WWII 101st Airborne Grouping

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Wow! All I can do is echo the prior comments. Very impressive grouping to say the least. Congratulations on your acquisition, and thanks for sharing this with us.

Cheers,
Tont

[AZPhil]

What an OUTSTANDING grouping. I have to go with Larry about the local Guy thing. It is great that it has stayed in the local area. That is just a fanominal assortment of items that are in that group.
Congrat's
Semper Fi
Philly Phil in AZ

[MAP]

Everyone above already stole all the good adjectives I wanted to say!

[Jerry B]

Superb group and great to see it all still together.

[Masonk]

Thanks, Gentlemen! This was a large estate so more items may be forthcoming. Hoping the dog tags show up. Plus, I still have all the letters to put in order and read through. Should keep me busy for awhile.

Also, Charles' son served in the USAF during Vietnam. I have his uniforms and medals. Still researching him and there may be more to that group as well.

[MD Helmets]

How did you get your hands on this grouping? I don't collect WWII US but I would have definitely made an exception for this grouping. And he is a Ritchie Boy! If you ever want to part with it, I'm always looking for a Ritchie Boy group. I live about 30 minutes from Ritchie and enjoy its history, and picturesque location

The gate at Fort (Camp) Ritchie


The HQ at Ritchie as it looks today (these are my photos)


He may have passed through this other gate many times during his training


Unfortunately, many of the wooden buildings that were used for classroom training and such were demolished about 7-10 years ago to make room for corporate development that never happened...and hopefully never does!

[Gunny Hartmann]

Fantastic grouping!.......

[Masonk]

How did you get your hands on this grouping? I don't collect WWII US but I would have definitely made an exception for this grouping. And he is a Ritchie Boy! If you ever want to part with it, I'm always looking for a Ritchie Boy group. I live about 30 minutes from Ritchie and enjoy its history, and picturesque location

Thanks, MD! I appreciate you adding the photos! Don't think I would ever be able to part with this grouping unless I gave up the hobby all together. Even then I would still be hard pressed. But I will certainly keep you in mind!

It was actually dumb luck on how I acquired it. This summer, while perusing Cragslist, I stumbled upon a WAC (Woman's Auxiliary Corps) cap. I contacted the seller and it turned out he had an entire grouping belonging to the woman as well as one of the uniforms that belonged to the woman's husband. The seller cleaned out the woman's estate, which is how he found them. Grouping can be found here:

Wife & Husband WWII Grouping - ANC Flight Nurse & 15th AAF

While researching that group, I found an ebay seller who had other items from the same estate, one of which was the woman's painted trunk. I reached out to the seller and asked if they could provide a photo of the trunk and if they had any interest in selling.

Jump ahead to a week ago, and the seller got back to me. Said she would be happy to provide photos, however had also come across another grouping while doing an estate clean-out. I was at the seller's house the next day (very nice people by the way!) and walked into Wahler's grouping. The rest is history!

[Paul D]

Wonderful collection of history , regarding all the German docs etc for any transaltion work etc it will be easier if you post what you want translated in their own threads in the paperwork section !!

[MD Helmets]

Thanks, MD! I appreciate you adding the photos! Don't think I would ever be able to part with this grouping unless I gave up the hobby all together. Even then I would still be hard pressed. But I will certainly keep you in mind!

It was actually dumb luck on how I acquired it. This summer, while perusing Cragslist, I stumbled upon a WAC (Woman's Auxiliary Corps) cap. I contacted the seller and it turned out he had an entire grouping belonging to the woman as well as one of the uniforms that belonged to the woman's husband. The seller cleaned out the woman's estate, which is how he found them. Grouping can be found here:

Wife & Husband WWII Grouping - ANC Flight Nurse & 15th AAF

While researching that group, I found an ebay seller who had other items from the same estate, one of which was the woman's painted trunk. I reached out to the seller and asked if they could provide a photo of the trunk and if they had any interest in selling.

Jump ahead to a week ago, and the seller got back to me. Said she would be happy to provide photos, however had also come across another grouping while doing an estate clean-out. I was at the seller's house the next day (very nice people by the way!) and walked into Wahler's grouping. The rest is history!

Wow. Yep definitely can't beat that, can't beat it with a stick. Some great stuff shows up on craigslist and even ebay from time to time. Fort Ritchie is a nice area nestled in the blue ridge mountains close to the PA line (blue ridge summit area). I recommend a visit if you haven't been. It's private property owned by the PenMar development corporation, but I have met the director and she enjoys the history of the fort and welcomes history buffs to stop in and walk the grounds.

I don't doubt you'll never part with it, I wouldn't, but just in case, it can have a happy home here if you ever do