D-day airborne crickets from sainte-mere-eglise

[cricketchris1944]

I have been collecting ww2 relics since the age of 8 from D-day and ww1 relics from Meuse Argonne since the age of 10 .the crickets were found around the village of Sainte-mere-eglise .I was told the black one could be one of the rare chrom ones.The last cricket that I found was 2 years ago.

[Ty Revelo]

Hello Chris and welcome. Those crickets are great ! Very collectable and desirable. How did you aquire these?

rgds, Ty

[cricketchris1944]

I spent 11 years in Normandy ,my Dad was the superintendent of the Normandy American cemetery for 17 years. I spent my time off going relic hunting all over Normandy ( American sectors)

[militarymania]

nice finds,,,

[Steve T]

Those are awesome and very rare indeed. As shown by your examples, 'complete' ones are worth a lot of money as the bit that made the click corrodes away very quickly in the ground.

There are many manufacturers of 'replica' crickets so beware of imitations !

Lovely finds. Got pictures of anything else you found in Normandy ?

Cheers

Steve T

[cricketchris1944]

Steve T you are right about the replica of the crickets but if you put them next to a real one the replica is not the same as the original.I do have alot of other relics from Normandy I will be posting them a couple of them every week.I saw some relics of airborne crickets on ebay but I could tell they were fakes well done but not the real deal.

[Steve T]

crickets

Here is an interesting fact for you. I live about 10 miles away from a little village called 'Quorn' in Leicestershire. If you google earth it and zoom in on Wood lane, you will see a house to the North with a big area of grassland. This is Quorn House (owned by, of all people, Rosemary Connelly !), and will be of interest to you. If you zoom into the grassland just to the north of the little estate you will see marks in the grass. These are the remains of the nissan hut foundations for the army camp here.

Now the interesting bit.......This is where the 505 regiment of the 82nd airborne was billeted when they weren't in action in Europe. John Steele was one of those stationed here........the guy who dangled off the church spire in St Mere Eglise on D- Day.

The 505th were actually in tents and the nissan huts were put up later to house German POWs......but don't you think it's interesting that I live 10miles away from where these guys were billeted !

Have a look here. There's some cool photos. Scroll down the page

What's new | Quorn Village On-line Museum, Leicestershire, UK

Cheers

Steve T

[Steve T]

Just checked google earth.....I got it a little bit wrong

Zoom in on wood lane and look for Northage Close. Just to the west of this road (it's a little housing estate) the park starts. It is here you will see the marks in the grass.

52 44 18 by 1 09 55 are the lat/long co-ords.

Cheers

Steve T

[cricketchris1944]

SteveT thank you ,very interesting info my father had the chance to meet him has a young man.I would like to see the location myself that would be a great experience I love thoses paratroopers.I will be putting some pictures of some of my airborne relics.

[cricketchris1944]

Can someone tell me the price of one of thoses crickets.I have seen prices from 175$ to 2000 Euros for a relic.The one that I saw for 2000 euros was at Sainte mere eglise at a militaria store.