"Mine had a ramrod"

[Jason W.]

Looks great Gary!

On a sad note, my Grandfather spent 25 years in the Army and naturally accumulated alot of stuff, of these items was a pair of leather legging like these. He sold them, and alot more of his issues, in the early '70's to a "collector" who came to the house asking if he'd be willing to part with his "Army stuff". He kept his photographs and some kraut medals. The rest- GONE :angry: My dad was pissed! He said he would have kicked the man to the curb had he been home that day. This was just old junk to my Grandfather (who was in his 70's at the time), but priceless heirlooms to Dad and I.

 

[garyjd]

Gulp! man that is sad. It's especially a shame when there is someone in the family and the stuff does mean something too. You can't put a $$$$$ on that. Once this guy's finished the project is gonna be half way done with the old vet remaining, in a way I can't wait. So many ideas and so little time.~Gary

 

[garyjd]

Here is the left arm started. I hope to have most of the folds in by the weekend.

 

[Pete_H]

Jason,
Dude, I feel your pain :angry: . I'm sorry for being so "off topic" and my apologies go out to Gary, but I have to say something here. If any of you have parents/grandparents who were in WWII, do yourself a favor and SAVE all of their "junk" heirlooms that you can. There are too many vultures out there willing to prey on the elderly to get their "junk militaria" to sell on eBay, or those next-of-kin who throw it all in the garbage thinking it's "junk" (I recently heard of someone throwing out his father's M42 jump uniform worn on D-Day thinking it was "garbage").
People, we are witnessing history fading before our eyes at the rate of an average of 1500 WWII vets per day. Do what you can to preserve their memories, be it saving some apparently insignificant piece of their militaria/memorabilia or simply listening to their stories (hopefully to pass on to those younger than us, thus preserving their legacy). Or simply take the time to go up to a WWII vet to thank them for what they did. One of my fondest memories came after viewing "Saving Pvt. Ryan" next to a vet of the 29th. ID and, after the credits were done rolling and the lights came up, shaking his hand and simply saying "thank you." Okay, so it sounds cheesey but it did happen and I'm damn proud of it. But seriosly, take the time to preserve something while we can. In 10 years we'll regret not doing so. I only wish I'd done something about preserving some memorabilia from S/Sgt. Ruben Romero, 82nd. AbnDiv. '42 - '45 (my dad's uncle).
There, I said it. I can get off my soap box now. My apologies for usurping this discussion thread, but Jason's posting really hit home.

 

[garyjd]

Pete, No problem, All the attention being paid to WW2 vets as well as other 20th century conflicts was/is well overdue. A local militaria collector gave my son a WW2 Ike jacket that belonged to a vet who was a medic. Sadly the guy stripped it of all the ribbons and insignia (don't know why) to where all that remained was the "ruptured duck" pin. What a knucklehead!~Gary

 

[Roc]

gary,it's looking good, thanks for taking the time to post the pictures.

keep up the great work.

cheers

Roc.

 

[garyjd]

Here's the left sleeve almost done. I have to do the cuff and stripes after I refine the folds a bit.

 

[garyjd]

After the sleeve all that remains is a web belt, holster and the right boot and leather legging, and the hands. I may add a bit more length to the left boot as it looks a little small.

 

[PeteC]

Gary, looking good! One thing though, it may be the angle of the photo or the dark shadows, but the shoulder looks a little thin. The folds look very natural to me. Great stuff!

 

[garyjd]

Pete, It might be. I'll look at them once I bake the arm. The left boot looks small to me anyway, so corrections will be made accordingly. Thanks for the observation.~Gary