Finds in the GARBAGE!

**ToxicGas** · 10-01-2011, 06:17 PM

It sounds like she's been through a lot, I can't imagine how someone must feel in her position. It must be a conflict of emotions, that's for sure. Hearing and recording the stories of people who have lived through those times is such an important thing, especially since many haven't necessarily written them down themselves. It's a shame to think some people having played their parts in a monumental period in history should pass away without having passed on their stories in some form. Equally, it's a shame when historical objects are handed over without their history unnecessarily as is the case with a lot of things for sale- It seems the man who came to you is making a point of ensuring that doesn't happen.

Mat

**GIZMO8Z** · 10-01-2011, 06:24 PM

by ToxicGas

It sounds like she's been through a lot, I can't imagine how someone must feel in her position. It must be a conflict of emotions, that's for sure. Hearing and recording the stories of people who have lived through those times is such an important thing, especially since many haven't necessarily written them down themselves. It's a shame to think some people having played their parts in a monumental period in history should pass away without having passed on their stories in some form.

You're absolutely correct! I asked my grandma once if she hated the German soldiers for what they did to her family and other people from where she was from. She said something along the lines of: "No... they were young boys... far from home and scared. They were doing what they were ordered to do"

by ToxicGas

Equally, it's a shame when historical objects are handed over without their history unnecessarily as is the case with a lot of things for sale- It seems the man who came to you is making a point of ensuring that doesn't happen.

Mat

I'll make sure to do my best to document what he tells me! I'm really excited about this!!

**ToxicGas** · 10-01-2011, 11:17 PM

by GIZMO8Z

You're absolutely correct! I asked my grandma once if she hated the German soldiers for what they did to her family and other people from where she was from. She said something along the lines of: "No... they were young boys... far from home and scared. They were doing what they were ordered to do"

I greatly respect people like her, who have suffered and lost friends / loved ones yet are able to look at things objectively and with compassion and understanding. It can't be easy.

Mat

**GIZMO8Z** · 10-03-2011, 02:08 AM

A customer "sold" me these items late Saturday... 3 medals and a bracelet in return for covering his $20 garbage bill. Not a bad trade if I do say so myself!

Can anyone comment on the bracelet? Is it trench art? Is it something a European jeweler made up in his shop to market to American GI's?

The three medals are an American WW2 victory medal, an American defense medal, and an American campaign medal.

The center part of the bracelet has a smoking Mt. Vesuvius volcano, an Italian umbrella pine tree, and sail boat (?) in the bay of Naples along with the words "Naples, Anzio, Cassino 1945". The links of the bracelet are each individually engraved... from left to right: Cassino, Sicily, Africa, Rome, Anzio, Siena.

**Poromies** · 10-03-2011, 02:38 PM

You're absolutely correct! I asked my grandma once if she hated the German soldiers for what they did to her family and other people from where she was from. She said something along the lines of: "No... they were young boys... far from home and scared. They were doing what they were ordered to do"

Thats the way grandmothers are. Lovely and understanding

My grandmother thinks in the same way. When the germans were burning down my home town, she was only a child. Before her family evacuated across the border to Sweden, the germans got into Lankojärvi (A small village in Pello). She said they were real nice to the people who lived there. They gave her chocolate and played games with the other children of the village. They burned her home down eventually after the evacuation, but she thinks nothing bad about them, they did what they were told to.

**ObKrieger** · 10-03-2011, 02:59 PM

If you get a bunch of free 10. SS militaria, that is it. I am making a road trip to your town and I am taking over at the recycling facility.

Bring a recording device of some kind if you get the chance to chat with him. You will want to get every word.

**command450** · 10-03-2011, 03:52 PM

by GIZMO8Z

I am very excited as well! I will make sure to write down what he says... and I'm hoping to correspond with him via e-mail!

I also really need to sit down with my grandmother and write down her history as well... she was from Zhytomyr, Ukraine and she experienced some amazing and horrible things. According to one thing she told me, the Germans rounded up a large group of people and put them into a line. She's ethnic German and was speaking to her mother in German... A German soldier watching over the line overheard their conversation and removed them from the lineand. My grandmother is positive that the people in that line were being led away to be executed...

OMG !!! its mazing how just one little event,can make all the difference in the world,during a horrible and bitter war. absolutely amazing..........

**GIZMO8Z** · 10-03-2011, 06:35 PM

Thanks for the kind words, guys!

I left my e-mail with the guy whose father was in the 10th SS on Saturday... i haven't heard from him since... so we'll see...

**Poromies** · 10-03-2011, 07:01 PM

I hope this ends well! You are a lucky man to have a job like that

**GIZMO8Z** · 10-03-2011, 09:17 PM

by Zuken

I hope this ends well! You are a lucky man to have a job like that

I owe it all to my parents!

Our "to go" pile is getting very small... a sure sign that winter is around the corner. I'm not very optimistic that I'll be finding much more until the spring and summer.