ping
I just love these...we have sold several similar; one had a photo of a child. Also, did you know that there are “locket” buttons from that era? They look like regular uniform buttons...but if you look closely you will see a hinge on one side. I have two of them in my collection...one still has a compass and sweetheart photo inside.
Thanks for the Post Dean!
Cool History PING!
Awesome!
One of Ernie Pyle’s more moving essays was about an ordnance salvage depot in France not long after D-Day. The depot worked with taking recovered weapons dropped by wounded or killed GIs, refurbishing them (or assembling one usable arm out of several destroyed ones) and reissuing them.
Many of them had been personalized by their prior (often now dead) bearers...initials, names of wives or sweethearts, etc. carved in the stocks. The one that the depot crew considered the most heartbreaking was an M1 Garand that had been personalized in a similar manner to this .45...the prior user had cut out a hollow in the stock by his cheek, pasted in a photo of a woman, and glued a watch crystal over it.
Nobody had a clue of the prior user, or what had happened to him. It was simply another rifle that had been recovered, refurbished and put back into the war.
Very cool.
The MOS insignias would seem to indicate Infantry or Armor. Maybe MP.