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

Thu Apr 23 15:09:35 EDT 2009

Sure Brad, happy to have an audience for it.  Don't know about the  
horse teeth, but it's as good a rationale as I've heard so far.  He  
made it back in one piece, so there may be something to it.

Bill

On Apr 23, 2009, at 12:36 PM, Brad & Merville wrote:

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