Does anyone on here collect Military artifacts?

I enjoy military memorabilia, but I just don't have the $$ to do much collecting. I have a few items that I've gotten from my father (and grandmother). My best is probably a nice German soldier self portrait (in uniform) with a very long story.

Dad was in WWII. He had medals and ribbons. He was in the Pacific Theater (Navy). Battle of Leyte, Phillipine campaign and others.

Dad passed in 2004. Mom had a quad bypass and never really recovered so ended up in a nursing facility (she passed in 2010). My sister "took over" the house (after mom went into the nursing home) and finagled (very long story) for her daughter to end up with the house. Sister had a stroke in 2011 and is in a long term care facility. I don't know what has happened to any of my parents' things and may never find out.

Yes, it pisses me off.


On the other side, my husband is named after an uncle that died after the Normandy invasion. He got a purple heart and my husband was supposed to get it but nobody knows (right) what happened to it.
In actuality, we think his aunt has it and won't fess up.

If you are into WWII and fascinating stories, thereof, go see "The Railway Man"

Don't care if you aren't a Colin Firth fan. It's a true story. The man whose story it is lived to see the film made but died before it went to post production (Oct 2012, age 93). He never saw the finished product but had said he didn't want to.

I have a few Confederate artifacts and would like to get ahold of more, but I'm saving money for college football season.

My grandfather was a Technical Seargeant the Army Air Force during WWII. He died of Polio in 1949 when my dad was 3 years old, but over the years we've managed to acquire many of his things from family members, including his medals. Very humbled to find he was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross with an Oak Leaf cluster and an Air Medal with an Oak Leaf cluster. Among other items are his recruitment training handbook, tons of pictures, and several letters written to family and friends describing places he had been; some of them are hard to read because they were "edited" before being allowed in the mail.

(06-27-2014 09:20 AM)MO State Alum Wrote:  I have a few Confederate artifacts and would like to get ahold of more, but I'm saving money for college football season.

My grandfather was a Technical Seargeant the Army Air Force during WWII. He died of Polio in 1949 when my dad was 3 years old, but over the years we've managed to acquire many of his things from family members, including his medals. Very humbled to find he was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross with an Oak Leaf cluster and an Air Medal with an Oak Leaf cluster. Among other items are his recruitment training handbook, tons of pictures, and several letters written to family and friends describing places he had been; some of them are hard to read because they were "edited" before being allowed in the mail.

Very old thread but had to respond. My brother fought in the Pacific, I in Vietnam , my son in the Middle East and have an interest in every war since the War Between the States. Have several artifacts from it including one of particular note. Taken from the Bentonville NC battleground, a piece of a tree with a bullet still in it that came from a neighboring farm a friend lived on. Have Jap and German rifles and several infantry items they used. Visited several battle sights in Europe and here at home and still looking. My brother, a retired dentist and still living 69 years after the war, will not and has never bought anything made in Japan. I feel the same regarding Vietnam but have reluctantly bought some things and I still regret doing so.

During OIF 1 I collected all sorts of Iraqi Military gear when we invaded. A snagged a few Iraqi helmets, bayonets, dog tags, military documents, real Iraqi money, Iranian money and some communication gear like Iraqi military phones and some artifacts from one of Saddam's palaces. I have it on display in my office at home. When I went back in OIF 3 the military wouldn't let soldiers mail home anything like I did after the invasion. I wasn't lucky to deploy when I did but as far as getting some cool stuff it was the best time to do it.

I collect mostly German items from WWI, WWII, and East Germany. I have a decent collection that includes medals of all types (with and without the evil swasty), uniform insignia, hats, pocket trinkets, etc.

(10-02-2014 02:53 PM)Burn the Horse Wrote:  I collect mostly German items from WWI, WWII, and East Germany. I have a decent collection that includes medals of all types (with and without the evil swasty), uniform insignia, hats, pocket trinkets, etc.

my dad was the backseat guy in an sbd. he was based in the pacific the whole time flying off a converted oil tanker aircraft carrier. I dont have a collection of ww2 stuff but quite a few books of the war. dad was shot down twice and survived with some good stories to tell. he received the air medal, distinguished flying cross and other medals that we have in a nice wall frame.