I haven't posted anything here in quite a while, so I thought I might show what is now one of my favourite pieces in my collection. I purchased it from ebay about a week or so ago, for two reasons. The main one being that it was an early Light Anti Gas Respirator variant that wasn't re-issued to the Danish following the Second World War, which is quite a common thing to find with most examples on the market. Looking at the single photo on the auction I could tell that its been to battle and back, based on the fact it was in a rather rough condition and had all the accessories that one would expect to find with a mask that has seen active use. This included the carrier packed with eyeshields, an anti dimming kit and an unusual and insignificant looking little piece of brown folded paper that instantly grabbed my attention..... This little brown thing was the icing on the cake for me and ultimately convinced me that I had to win the auction just in case it was what I thought it might be...
Well, I won the auction and patiently waited for the parcel to arrive at my parents house and for them to open it and send me some photographs. (I live away from home and I can't really have parcels of old anti gas kit arriving every week )
Here's the photograph I was sent:
Well, for those who have worked out what the little brown thing is, I suppose you can say it was a steal for a tenner
And for those who don't know, its an Anti Gas Brassard/Armband. These were made out of paper impregnated with a chemical that changed colour when gas was present, alerting the wearer and those around him to the presence of gas. Because of their quite famous use by Airborne units, both American and British, they are quite sought after items. And also because of their fragile nature, and the fact they were more of a disposable item, they are quite rare items. So I don't think I did that bad at all, so it goes to show that ebay can be fantastic if you know what you're looking at
Another interesting thing about this set is that it is named to Lieutenant who served with the Royal Army Service Corps, which was one of the Corps that merged with four others to form the Royal Logistic Corps in which I currently serve At the moment researching him and hoping to find out a bit about him and where he went during the war, so I'll update this thread with anything that I find.
Thanks
Danny
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