My Grandfathers Gulf War Iraqi Bringbacks

[John4022]

My grandfather served in Desert Storm as a truck driver when he was in his 50s. Now he is in his early 80s and hes starting to slow down. Every day my dad and I go over to his property and do some cleaning up. We worked our way into one of his barns and found a box full of his Iraqi souvenirs. My dad had no idea he brought anything back home from the war. We showed it to my grandfather and he didn't remember any of it, he only recalls bringing home a licence plate and a postcard of Saddam. He said he remembered going bunker hunting with his friend "Willy Lunch-meat" for souvenirs but didn't remember bringing anything home. He recalled looking for militaria souvenirs while Willy was looking for Rolex watches. He also remembered that a soldier from the 82nd Airborne gave him some souvenirs, he recalled that 82nd soldier later was killed in an accident from an exploding ammo dump.

Here are some photos of what the box had in it. I don't know anything about Iraqi militaria so if anyone is knowledgeable about it I would be grateful for any info. My personal favorite item is the British Desert Rats tshirt. My grandfather must of bought it from a tshirt vendor or from a British soldier. I just love that design! We most likely are going to find more Iraqi items since we haven't even made a dent in the barn. I don't know if Iraqi items have much interest on this forum but I hope you guys enjoy seeing this post.

Thanks for looking,
John

[John4022]

I also wanted to share a picture of my Grandfather. Here he is with my sister and little John4022

[AZPhil]

Very cool stuff. I take it you GF was a contractor. Or was he still in the service?
Semper Fi.
Phil

[John4022]

Very cool stuff. I take it you GF was a contractor. Or was he still in the arevice? Semper Fi. Phil

He was in the Army reserves as a driver.

[AZPhil]

Thank him for his service for me!!!
I knew a lot of guy's who got out of the Corps because of all the deployments they went on, A couple of my friends joined the National Guard. One Ground and the other Air, thinking they were safe and would be at home. They both were sent to the Sand Box and did more time there than any of their Det's

Semper Fi
Phil

[HARRY THE MOLE]

John... your grandfather did more than his share for his country, and you are justifiably proud of him. Make sure that you get all his tales of his military service out of him before he is no longer around to tell you, and then you can pass on his stories to your kids and help to keep his memory alive.

Cheers,
Steve

[Gwar]

On a side note , it is interesting to see the "Draeger" logo on the mask filter. The German Co. ( Draeger ) produced breathers used by civilians such as the Luftshutz during the war. They are still manufacturing all types of respiratory equipment even today.

[John4022]

I noticed that too Gwar. I looked it up and I found that the East Germans exported equipment to Iraq. I found only one similar gas mask but it doesn't seem to have the Draeger logo. https://bsrmilitaria.com/product/ori...-iraqi-forced/

[HPL2008]

I noticed that too Gwar. I looked it up and I found that the East Germans exported equipment to Iraq.

Draeger isn't East German.

[John4022]

Draeger isn't East German.

I tried researching if Draeger was from the East or West but couldn't find anything, thanks for confirming. So I suppose I dont know who used the gas mask in Desert Storm.

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Yesterday we found two Iraqi tunics, I'll get them cleaned up and share them later today