[WWI] 6th Marine Regt. (was: How did this damn spammer get in?)

[Bill Weckel]

Brad,

Grandpa "Red" passed away a few years before I was born, so I never  
met him.  At some point when I was little, I was either given or took,  
a box of his souvenirs from the war.  It contained his medals, dogtag  
and marksmanship badges, uniform buttons, a pocket knife, several  
lighters, and some items taken from Germans.  There's a spike from a  
German helmet, a nice pair of officer's field glasses in their case, a  
german lighter and some sort of cigarette holder in a small case, and  
a small cloth bag full of ... teeth.  My older brother always told me  
they were German's teeth, which gave me nightmares, but as I got  
older, it became obvious that they were far to large to be human -  
they are actually horse's teeth.  Why they're in there, and what their  
significance is, only Grandpa knows.  The German lighter appears to  
have been engraved by it's owner with a large "1917" in a Germanic  
script, followed by about 30 or so hash marks.  I'm assuming these  
represent the men he killed.  Sadly, no Luger in the box :-(

Red enlisted in the USMC when we entered the war.  The story was that  
really 16 or 17 but he lied about his age, fearing the war would end  
before he could get to France.  He was a rilfeman in a rifle company  
in the 6th Marine Regiment, and fought in the Aisne-Marne, Chateau  
Thierry, and Meuse-Argonne offensives, and most notably, fought at  
Belleau Wood.  I have his USMC service record detailing all the when  
and where's.  I was always told he was gas'd in one of the battles,  
and lived with some lung damage the rest of his life.  It doesn't  
mention that in his record though.  When I was little, I remember  
seeing a photo of him and a comrade in their battle gear, with  
"France, 1918" written on the back.  I've searched for this photo for  
years and nobody in the family seems to be able to produce it for me.   
My parents are in their 80's now and aren't so good at remembering  
where things are, but I'm hoping it will eventually turn up.  Getting  
that box of souvenirs when I was little probably played a big part in  
me being here talking with you guys today!

I'm working on a WWI related website now, and will post his service  
record on it.  When the site's ready, I'll post a link for anyone  
interested.

Bill

On Apr 23, 2009, at 10:09 AM, Brad & Merville wrote:

> Bill
>
> According to Wiki the first wrist watches were called "Trench  
> watches" developed through the war.
>
> "much more interesting and gruesome items"
>
> Do tell.
>
> Brad
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Weckel" <wwi at idesigntec.com>
> To: "World War I Modeling Mailing List" <wwi at wwi-models.org>
> Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2009 9:51 AM
> Subject: Re: [WWI] How did this damn spammer get in? Why get an  
> originalwatch?
>
>
>> When did the wristwatch come into general use?  Did pilots wear  
>> them  in WWI, or we're pocket watches still the norm?  I have a box  
>> of my grandfather's souvenirs from his time at the front, and  
>> there's a  broken pocket watch in there along with some much more  
>> interesting and  gruesome items.
>>
>> Bill
>>
>>
>> On Apr 23, 2009, at 8:47 AM, Allan Wright wrote:
>>
>>> I'm on a unix box here at UNH. I am 99.9% sure I'm not  
>>> compromised, so
>>> this was a spoof, probably someone gleaned the e-mail addresses  
>>> from  the
>>> WWI model galleries.
>>>
>>> Sorry, the Internet is full of crooks and charlatans these days.
>>>
>>> Allan
>>>
>>> On Thu, 2009-04-23 at 17:22 +1000, Shane Weier wrote:
>>>> Al
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> You missed a fake watch salesman.
>>>>
>>>> It's not in the archive so probably never went through the list.   
>>>> Also on inspection, the email appears to come from your email   
>>>> address and not the list server.
>>>>
>>>> Spoofed? Or is your server compromised in some way?
>>>>
>>>> Shane
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> .---- - --- ....- ---.. .-. ..- .-.. . ... .-.-.-
>>>>
>>>> My Strine is a Toad in Disguise
>>>>
>>>> Quidvis recte factum,
>>>> quamvis humile, praeclarum
>>>> .---- - --- ....- ---.. .-. ..- .-.. . ... .-.-.-
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
>>
>
>