"what is the coolest military artifact you have?" Topic

Mine is my great-great-grandfathers discharge papers.
He was in the Army of the Potomac for the entire war (2nd US Arty).
On the back someone wrote all the battles/engagements he was in. There is like 30 of them.

Father in laws CIB. 90th Div WWII. Went ashore on D+1 and was in an infantry company fighting across Europe until the German surrender. Then, of course, there are my own dog tags.

WW1 tank shell made into trench art and mentions the Battle of Cambrai and RTC.

My father has some really cool stuff (Arisaka carbine, Colt Navy revolver, etc) but I don't really have that many. I do have an Iraqi medic's "helmet" from the '91 Gulf War that a marine corps buddy brought back for me. In actuality, its just a fiberglass M1 liner that they painted desert sand.

I've got a couple bayonets, one is German from WWI, the other French from WWII. I've got a German 9mm automatic from WWII also. Probably the neatest thing I have is a ukulele that my Uncle carried with him across France.

I've got a shell fragment from one of the fields around Vicksburg, I bought it at an ACW relic show. It's an iron piece about the size of a deck of cards. It still has the lead covering and you can see the interior of the charge receptacle.

I think it's pretty cool.

Presently an SMLE No1 bayonet from Scottish regiment.
I did have a 1796 pattern British Light Cavalry Sabre that supposedly was carried at Waterloo by an officer in the 12th light dragoons. Sold it many years ago.

I have a light cavalry saber carried by Private Robert Kroesen, 10th Ohio Cavalry, during the Atlanta Campaign, the MArch to the Sea and the Campaign of the Carolinas. He was 16 in 1863 and lied about his age to enlist. He was called "Little Bob" but by the end of the war he stood over 6' tall. It was given to me by a descendant.

3 family pistols;

1) My Great-Grandmother's brother's Artillery Model Colt SAA from the Spanish American War. He fought in Puerto Rico. I also have his holster and the blanket he was issued.

2) Great-Uncle Clarence was commissioned in 1916, and retired as a Brigadier General in 1946. I have the M1911 he was issued on the way to France in 1918.

He served in France, across posts in the USA, the Philippines, and was in the CBI-theater for most of WW2.

3)I also have the M1911A1 my father "may or may not" have "borrowed" in Korea. He served in Korea and Japan from '52-'53.

A canteen from AWI time

A WWII German Officers parade helmet.

My father's pilot wings

I should add that I also have
Dad's jump boots, field blouse he was wearing when wounded and a portion of his parachute from Normandy.
Used to have a Samarai sword, but it was stolen during a burglary about 40 years ago.

Oh, and a German field pack with calf skin cover.
Heimdahl is stenciled on it.

An Austrian merit medal for the 1797 defense of Tirol.

my dad's short snorter

I have an `(brass) 18PDR artillery shell 1915 engraved with `Hill 60, A Souvenir of the Great War, Hill 63`. I don`t know what `Hill 63` refers too. I use it to hold my long handled `àrtist`s` brushes. I also have my father`s RCAF lieutenants hat from when he was in the reserves after doing his national service in the RAF. One of the more curious items I have is a cheap metal teapot stamped (in English) `Made in Occupied Japan`. Post war the allies were trying to rebuild the japanese economy so they had to convince consumers in the West it was now time to buy Japanese imports. Unfortunately the tea brewed in it tastes terrible.

My grandfather's CIB for being a forward observer (which he was proud of) and his Bronze Star (which he felt was pointless). Also the Luger, two flags, Hitlerjugend armband and variety of bayonets and other stuff he brought back while in the 95th Division.

A bayonet and sheath from the Franco Prussian War.

Two roman coins my grandfather found at Hadrian's wall.

A cavalry Sabre tentatively identified as a Belgian export model approx 200 years old, it has 3 notches filed on the back of the blade just above the guard.

An inert Mills bomb from WWII.

Robert

Arrow heads from the 1st C Bc

I have a pair of World War II German artillery officer's binoculars. I inherited them from father whose brother (my uncle) captured from the original owner who failed to take out his tank.

ACW sword bayonet (now part of home defense arsenal); Coral-encrusted cap of 5"+ shell from Okinawa (my mom found it at low tide. I only found a lousy .30 cartridge :-); My dad's Newfoundland/Goose Bay duffel bag from the 50's that he never reopened once he got transferred from there (except for boots, contains his cold weather gear that fits me LOL, and in one of the coat pockets I found a lipstick-kissed handkerchief that my mom had given him to take along. All this happened before I was born. ;-)

Suunto compass with an inscription indicating that it was a prize given to a Finnish soldier, bearing the year 1944. My then-girlfriend spotted it at an open-air market in, if I recall correctly, Turku.

My late father's passes to enter the city of Trieste in late 1945 and early 1946 -- coolness points because they say "destroy upon leaving Trieste", but they may be diplomatic and not military, and my father was in the Merchant Marine service.

Photograph of my grandfather serving under General Allenby in Palestine during the First World War. He was an American volunteer.

A French First Empire infantry officer's gorget.

My grandfather's Great War trench watch. Still keeps time.

Can't decide

Beret of WW2 Normandy Para. A gift from a family friend who knew I would treasure it.

A couple of Minié balls. They are deformed from hitting something, or maybe just plowed under. Dug up from a privately owned field near Murfreesboro with the owner's permission to do a bit of metal detecting.

Pip, Squeak & Wilf from grand-uncle Bill.
2 x 40 mm which hold the cap badges of the Grenadier Guards & RA, & 2 x 20 mm brass shell cases from WWII from grandfather Jack.

Do have my FiL web belt pouch and he was a combat engineer D-Day vet, so it's possible it survived that day.
My own have my steel helmet and gas mask, got way from having to turn them in.

Bits of the keel of HMS Brazen from when she ran aground in Chile in 1994 and was stuck on a rock for three days in appalling conditions, I retrieved them from the damaged part of the ship when I was supervising the repairs in Tulcahuano, along with a bit of the rock that she was stuck on

My Dad's Globe & Anchor from his WWII uniform, shell fragment from Gettysburg.

A family friend gave me an ACW bayonet dug up on his property near Gettysburg in the early 1950's. The blade was protected by the leather sheath and is in great shape. Half of the leather sheath remains and there is just a bit of corrosion on the rest of the bayonet.

They other thing I have is the navy master diver pin my brother gave me. He was in the Navy for 10 years "doing stuff" is all he told me.

Not military, but interesting.

My most prized possession is a piece of the cargo mesh from the LEM on Apollo 13. Fred Haise took the netting when they went back to the command module just before they jettisoned the LEM. It was then cut into squares, placed on a small card with the mission patch image. The card was signed by all three astronauts and the director of NASA. Then given to the members of the team that saved their lives. My father in law gave it to me years ago.

An 1811 pattern First Empire French Cuirassier sabre. Also, a few original copies of "Le Moniteur", one announcing the death of Marshal Lannes.

Don Featherstone told me he took one book with him right through WW2 when he served through the Tunisian and Italian campaigns with 51 Royal tank regiment. It was a hardcover copy of H.G. wells "Little Wars". He was kind enough to sell it to me when he disposed of many of his books. It still has a dusty,oily smell.

My grandads button stick from the First World War complete with bullet hole, 1st battalion Royal Scots.

An ACW 12# shell, 1862 Enfield sword bayonet, my father's CIB, purple heart, dogtags and an original colored chalk drawing of his unit deployed in France.

My grandfather's service papers, 2 wound telegrames from WW1. My dad's log book and flying helmet from his time on bombers during WW2 and after.

Great-great grandfather's discharge papers from the French army signed by Napoleon III (or more likely by some scribe or some such) in 1869, and a Japanese bayonet my Dad brought home from Saipan.

My Dad's bayonet for an M1 Garand

Confederate cavalry saber, WWI German gas mask and can, 98 Gewehr 1917 Danzig with butcher bayonet.

A FFL BADGE FROM INDO CHINA
A decommissioned LAW tube with practice round inside
Grandfathers medals and papers from WWII plus his book on thev14th Brooklyn (he was 1st sergeant in the 20-30s,lived around the corner from the now closed Armory on 18 th st. In Brooklyn

Father in laws CIB. 90th Div WWII.

My Father was with the 90ID and landed on D+10. He was an Inf SGT. I have his Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart, with his award citations. And a Walther PPK still in the holster, he must have taken it from a German.

I used to have a Martini-Henry bayonet, but that may have gone somewhere!

The only artifact I have is from Sarajevo, its a Russian 12.7 bullet case converted into a pen!

Paul Von Lettows Vorbeck autograph.

I was given a 12 pound round shot, found in a farm field in Kentucky.

Kind of a tough choice. As a serious collector and sometime trader, I get my hands on some neat stuff with regularity.

In terms of one-of-a-kind items, I have two of the artists' original illustrations for Deeds That Thrill The Empire Also, a fantastic pastel sketch made by a poilu in the trenches, dated 1916.

I don't collect weapons as a general rule, but I am very fond of my M1861 Austrian Infantry Officers's sword.

Of the thousands of British badges, titles, formation signs, etc. in my collection, the ones that never fail to move me are the first patterns and issues for the various Pals Battalions.

All my haves are hads. Family financial issues and Tropical Storm Agnes meant the loss of most everything.

A cutdown Richmond Arsenal ACW musket. We think it burst at the muzzle and was shortened and issued to 5th columnists in Western Maryland. Sold. Definitely not a carbine.

A type 94 Japanese Pistol. Sold.

A broom handle Mauser. Turns out it was a 30s Chinese manufacture knock-off. Sold.

A Piat Mortar. Bought back when Sunny's Surplus was exactly that. Badly corroded after Agnes and discarded.

But the best was an item a neighbor kid had. A Japanese 60mm mortar. I have no idea what became of it.

I still have a spent 40mm shell. My brother kept pennies in it.

Dads shoulder patches that he wore on D-Day at Juno, 2nd army victory party celebration programme may 1945, grandpas medals from ww1 and a rosary/ crucifix that was in with them, an unusual thing for a chapel man to carry and must have had a story behind It!

Prewar ceremonial sword of the major of the small village in Tokyo presented to me as a kid (Mom and I were on the 1st ship of dependents allowed into Tokyo Bay after the Japanese surrendered. Got pics of me playing outside the wood and paper house we lived in.

War of 1812 Yank and british buttons and musket balls.

Hastings Prince Edward Reg. officer's hat, WWII.

My husbands Father served with the 5th Special Forces Group in Vietnam. He was there 27 months. We have his Silver Star(with Valor) and his Purple Heart and his campaign Ribbons.
We also have a photo albums which is filled with pictures he took while in Vietnam.