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

[Brad & Merville]

Thanks for sharing Bill.  It's great to have those real connections to so 
monumental and faraway events.  That's quite a battle list!  I wonder if 
horses teeth were considered lucky?

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 11:49 AM
Subject: Re: [WWI] 6th Marine Regt. (was: How did this damn spammer get in?)


> 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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>>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>