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I fought in the Bore war if thats any good, when the wife nags me, it bores the hell out of me , and she starts waging war, the saucepan grenades are a real bugger if one hits you on the noggin, last time I was awarded the Purple Bruise and the DFC( Deep F**king Cut)

Mu Uncle entered Europe over Point Du Hoc on the evening of 5th/6th June 44, his destination was the Caen area to shoot up AA guns, and searchlights....it was familiar ground to him, they used that as a point of entry for months before D day...:) One of his Logbook pages from D Day...:) He was killed along with his Observer Roy Phillips, on 26th June 44, his Mosquito NS880, blew up in the air and crashed just outside Margate railway Station. he had one more trip to do to complete his second tour before going on a rest.

My pleasure, I love the community feel of a forum, always have. Much friendlier than FB.

Well I,ve been on their site, and it appears to me that their uniforms are all repros, their original helmets have been repainted, with repro liners, chinstraps etc. Compare the prices to original uniforms, these ones are cheap re-enactment uniforms, you dont get a Panzer wrap jacket for £60.or SS camos for £70.

Here are a few more uniforms from my collection. These are pretty plain so to speak and I will highlight some of the interesting details about them. First up is an early M1910/12 enlisted wool uniform. This uniform in particular has a number of different things going on that make it a very interesting piece. To start off, it is named to a Frank Barnard that served with Company M, 3rd Oklahoma infantry. This is a pre-WWI uniform as you will see by the tag and the rimless eagle buttons, which would later be switched to the rimmed style around 1916. The coat also features the usual 2 rows of stitching abouve the cuff. It was made by Morris Busch and has a contract date of November 12, 1910 and also has a Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot stamp of March 16, 1912. This uniform was probably part of the transition from the standing-falling to the standing type seen in the photos. In addition, this is the uniform the soldier wore for inspections as it has wool padding added to the shoulders just above the sleeve for a squared look. There were also hooks added below the bottom button to help keep the bottom of the coat closed. -Mike

Gifts given to members of the Panzertruppen.

Enjoy a full compliment from the collection on M-24's

Just watched a film that I had,nt seen since I was a kid, The Sound Barrier, made in the early 50s with Ralph Richardson, Nigel Patrick, John Justin, and Denholm Elliot, Basically how pioneers in aviation reached that barrier that killed people like Geoffrey De Havilland. It was pretty factual plus aircraft like the Vickers Supermarine Swift,Vickers Supermarine Attacker, de Havilland Comet and Vampire 113 were used, also one of the technical advisors was Jeffrey Quill OBE.. AFC, the man that was test pilot for the Spitfire. These older films have been restored and it just shows you what acting is all about. But I,m still waiting for The Small Back Room to come on, all about wartime Bomb Disposal, If you get the chance watch the film, theres some pretty good flying sequences in there.

Personally I would never ruin any BD by piercing, especially when brass titles were not used after 1939/40 on them, and never at all on '49 pattern.cloth only ever used then.thatll save the cloth too, so a winner all round.

...if she's anything like my other half, you're a brave man!

@Lenny (gotta love this tagging thing!),I've got several with boards original to them,the tan,tropical one which belonged to a FJ Uffz came with tropical boards,but the green one I've posted a few weeks ago came with a pair of scarce M44 continental boards!Another green and a blue one had been found with standard boards!Anything would do IMO! Cheers Manu

Hiya, Just want to badge it as a ww2 RA jacket, not phased about the buttons etc etc.... it's for my grandsons school project on WW2...and as his great grandad was in the RA, ( Anti Aircraft) thought it might be quite a nice wee thing for him to take into school with him.....:) I don't have any AA badges yet tho, and don't really know what regt he was in...BUT, he was in London ( docklands) during the Blitz, then the South Coast, then Scapa Flow...might get some info from that...:) I can do a wee picture of the stuff to be put on the jacket...back in five...:) I was going to replace the buttons on show with RA buttons, I also have a couple of "cannon" shoulder patches too, and a couple of RA epaulette RA shoulder slides on their way too...:) Andrew is chuffed to bits so far with the "kit", and is showing a real interest in all things WW2....:)

Hi there, I've been really hectic with work recently, lot of travelling for location work and lots of tight deadline jobs, so not been updating here as much as I'd liked. I've finally had a chance to sit down and really fine tune the forum the way I wanted it. It's all about making the web forum the most user friendly, helpful and fun place to discuss militaria. I've added a few features, listed below as well as a few new forum areas requested by members. Remember the MCN belongs to you so tell us what you want to see here... Forum software update, security fixes and extra features. A new UNREAD topic badge. There was a subtle way of telling if there were unread posts, darker dot or star, but this makes it more obvious. A proper Global Message that I can set at the top of every page. You can now get rid of it when you have read it by clicking the little x top right of box. An ONLINE indicator, green dot on your profile if you're online, grey if you aren't. Joined Date info on profile, lets you know how long people have been members. GO TO TOP link on every post, makes it easy to get back to the top of the page. Email confirmation on signup page, makes new members re-type their email address to make sure it's correct. and the one I'm most pleased with: BADGES system, whereas STAFF, MODERATORS and now VETERANS get a ribbon on their posts. If you are a veteran then get in touch with me with proof/confirmation of veteran status. Please no Walter Mittys, we will ask for proof of veteran status.

Like the changes thanks Lenny

Hats off to you there dave,i just laughed my ballhawks off

@Lenny...I think that about just any rank (try to avoid Feldmarschall or Gauleiter if thay's all possible,tho!) and any branch would do! Cheers Manu

Looking great Lenny. Ive been offline a while as pleased to report that im avalanched with work

Nice work @Lenny the new changes work really well

Now thats what you call a grouping of medals and his badge aint bad either

If I was after reproduction items I would look elsewhere. D

I thought I would post this here and see if any other nations have something similar. I think this is just getting started, and I am happy to be an early supporter. The patch below has been refereed to as the IGY6 pronounced IGGY 6 patch. for PTSD awareness. Everything about this patch has a meaning. The semicolon.... This creates a pause. Almost like a thought, a reconsideration of the cessation of a sentence. Or in this case, your life. IGY6 stands for I Got Your Back. The colours also carry a meaning. TEAL is for PTSD awareness. BLACK is for the heavy hearts that many of us carry for those who suffer from PTSD and those who have lost loved ones because of PTSD. RED is a symbol of the blood that has been shed. YELLOW is for Support our Troops. The WHITE background can also mean on common or neutral ground. To say there is NO judgement or preconception here. So when you combine it all together, it is a way of saying that if you are thinking about taking your life or feel utterly trapped and alone, PAUSE, I got your back. I will help you through it and stand by your side. If you ever see someone wearing it, know that they will help you and are there to listen.

He wrote this letter home a couple of days after that D Day over Europe, him and all his colleagues had the same thoughts about the "Boys" in Caen....

pics from the ww1 battlefield and museum near by

"All you had to do was wear the clowns costume, but no not you , you had to upset the ringmaster did,nt you, now look where we are!!!!!!"

Guys, we're gonna need a longer trench periscope.....

Yes ,have to agree, noticed all the little changes and they work really well, proud of my ribbon as well, nearest thing I,ve had to a ribbon was a Chocolate bar!!!!!!

I agree with what you say about IWM London but years ago it was worth going there, they certainly had loads more items when i was a kid and you could walk around them and touch them, as for you getting in the B17, all I can say is you jammy perisher, But you top that with one of the things thats on my bucket list before I shuffle off this mortal coil, a ride in a Lanc. And what a thrill for your youngster, thats something he will never forget, If I had the money I would pay for a flight in the dual cockpit Spitfire, thats on the list too. During my lifetime many things have happened to me, mostly pleasant,but some nasty, some scary, some extremely dangerous, but to ride in both those planes would let me die happy. I can tell you a funny story about a Sunderland and my Dad, and how he was involved in nearly shooting one down.

Loads of good stuff there @Lenny, thank you for making this forum what it is

I didn't find the lighting too bad @Davejbat the Airborne Forces section, but I think it may have been a combination of both as regards photo's. I agree with what you said about the two museums, but being fair to IWM London they are restricted in the size of the building , trying to cater to everyone's tastes and it is free. No doubt about it, Duxford has the edge even if it were just for the fact it was a Wartime Base......Brille. My mate is a member of the Sally B Club so for a small donation, we were allowed on.....even got to hold the mid section Brownings! Bit more room than a Lanc.....did a Taxi ride on "Just Jane " last year, at East Kirkby in Lincolnshire...boy that was a tight squeeze.....even worse for tail end Charlie! I was doing a bit of Living History over the last 10 years so they even let me do it my RAF rig. My youngest son and my wife were there to watch. There were two rides, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. I was the later time but in the morning I had purchased one raffle ticket...it was drawn just before my taxi ride. I couldn't believe it when my son joined me...he had won first prize! Was quite poignant for me as my son never got to meet his Grandfather, my father, who joined up in 1945 and was a ground crew Engineer working on Lancs and Sunderlands. My Dad's involvement in the RAF kick started my interest and this hobby.

I just hope I get it in the loo bowl!!!!!!!!

Thats a good idea, I,ll try that with my one, only I,ll have glass on both sides, as mines double sided

It is certainly hard to understand and comprehend how an individual or group of individuals could commit such heinous acts of sickening violence, rape murder and brutality without compassion whatsoever, I certainly cant think how any human could. This is why when our boys caught Japs alive they ripped out their gold teeth and killed them slowly like they had done to so many and took anything off them of souvenir value. So few Jap war criminals were brought to justice and most Japs remained unrepentant for the things they did in WW2 and it is widely believed that most Jap soldiers within operational areas of WW2 had committed at least one atrocity which could constitute war crime, think of such a statistic! The A-Bombs were entirely justified and it makes me mad when these Ban the Bomb idiots try to tell us all how Nuclear Weapons are evil look at Hiroshima and Nagasaki they squeak. There are many photos like the one of the two Japs playing bayonet catch with the Chinese baby, some just too revolting to include here- I think they certainly received their just punishment but had it been me id have pushed for further Atomic Bombs to be dropped on Japan.

Posted some pics on the Museums Gallery if anyone is interested.......

March's winner is @Waffenamt, congratulations...

O.k. I have had this cap for many years. It was sold to me as a 1950's era movie prop. All it had was the Waffenfarb strip. The insignia I bought later. I love the cap, thats why I have hung onto it all these years.

Next we have an WWI 82nd Division Infantry uniform. The patch is an interesting one as a number of experienced collectors have never seen this color variation before, so it may be unit specific or something of that nature. This uniform has one 6 month overseas service chevron and a wound chevron on the opposite sleeve. The 82nd Division is famous for Sgt. Alvin York and later became the 82nd Airborne Division. If anyone has any questions about any of the uniforms I have posted, please feel free to ask. Thanks, Mike

Here is one of the uniforms that I picked up over the weekend. Unfortunately it is not named as it would make a great research project. This is a 29th Division uniform to a guy that was in Company B of one of the Machine Gun battalions. It has 3 overseas service chevrons and unfortunately, it is not named. Thanks, Mike

Next up is a rather nice tailored wool uniform to a 1st Lieutenant that served in the cavalry. Unfortunately it is not named and is missing one of the WC Link LT. bars, not to mention the officer's cuff stripes. This one in particular was made by Rhodes-Rapier in Louisville, Kentucky sometime during the war. It is however a nice example of an private purchase uniform with the exception of the above mentioned issues. -Mike

Would like to sea that!

I have a wee story about one of the items......In the corner I have a Tauchretter (escape vest). I purchased it last year in Jersey. In the 60's it was in a small museum on the Island, which is closed now. It then moved to the Jersey War Tunnels. Ive visited the Tunnels since the 70's and its changed quite a bit over the years. I would say it was at its best about 5 years ago. They were looking to get it Museum status and it really was impressive. a lot of money was being spent on it both inside and in the shop/restaurant next door. Unfortunately, a lot more money was needed to get it to the standard of Museum and eventually backers/investors pulled out and it was sold on. It is still good, is what it is but a lot of what was inside was moved on.......the Tauchretter being one of the items. I was taken on by the history and when I returned to my digs (the WW2 Observation Bunker at Corbiere - http://www.jerseyheritage.org/holiday/radio-tower) I took it up top to where all the light was and low and behold I found that it had been stamped with the number of the U-boat it had been assigned to - U-157. I contacted the seller. He hadn't noticed it and couldn't offer me any other information. So this is what I know:- The U-157 was a type IXC U-boat from the Bremen Boatyard. It was laid down on 21/10/1941 and commissioned on 15/9/1941 under the command of Lt Commander Wolf Henne Field post number was M- 13 974. It was part of 4 Flotilla Stettin from 15.9.41 - 31/5/42 as a training boat and then was a frontline boat in 2nd Flotilla, Lorient from 6.1.42 - 13.6.42 On 18.5.42 U-157 was 26 days at sea. It was operating in West atlantic, the Windward Passage, the Bahama Channel before Cuba, the Florida keys and Havana. On 11th June it sunk the 6,401 US molasses tanker HAGAN five miles north Cuba near Cape Roman. On the same day a US Bomber spotted 157 and dropped four depth charges. By the time the Submarine reached the new US anti-submarine base off Key West, Florida on the 13th, it was attacked and sunk by seven depth charges from the USS Thetis and other Allied vessels. My question........how did it arrive in Jersey? Reports indicate Flotsam at the time...so was it fished out the sea?.....Was it allocated to U157 at Lorient but never loaded or was it just stamped and used for training? One thing is for sure...It is salty. It has seen some activity.......Any thoughts you guy's?????????????????

I recognise that naval helmet, did you get that off eBay recently? nice display btw, sometimes needs must re. Repro stuff.only ted fernyhough has everything for his displays!

@Davejb bad luck mate

Yep, same here, its a younger mans game now, let them root around all the stalls trying to find a good deal, its getting harder with so many fakes around, even decent collectors get scammed on occassions. I nearly had a result and a half a few months ago, there was a local jumble sale at an OAPs residence near me, I just called in on the off chance of seeing something , I did, in fact I nearly had a fit, there was this old timer at a table who I got talking to. He had odd bits and pieces but nothing military related, while talking, the subject came up about my collecting, he said hang on and reached under the table and pulled out a cardboard box, and started to sort through odds and ends, he grabbed something and threw it on the table, I looked and nearly had a heart attack, there in front of me was a dirty looking German side cap, but it was the button on the front that got me, SS and on the left hand side was the SS eagle. I looked inside and it was also marked but very feint, so I could,nt read it, He saw that my jaw had dropped and said "is that any good for you", I nodded, still a bit gobsmacked, He then said "How much do you reckon", I had to be honest with him and gave him a price which I thought it could go for, He said "that was good of you", most would have told me it was,nt worth much, Give me a ton and its yours, I stared at this old boy and asked him if he was sure , he said he was,I told him I would never sell it, which is true. All I had on me was £30 so I gave that to him as deposit while I went down the bank, 20 minutes later I turned up again, he was inside having a cup of tea, there was a woman on his table, He came out looked under the table and said to her" Wheres that old cap that was in the box", She smiled and said "I just sold it, I got £20 for it." Well my legs went weak, and this old boy hit the roof, he called her everything under the sun, She burst into tears, and this old boys face was red as beetroot, He gave me the £30 quid back and said sorry, then shouted at her again and told her how much it was worth, She burst into tears again and ran off, She was one of the nursing staff and did,nt have permission to be on the tables, I reckon someone had seen me with the cap and saw him leave and asked her to have a look under the table, I took my frustration out on my steering Wheel

Last up is a 78th Division wool Ordnance Sergeant's tunic. This one has the same 78th patch as the uniform above, but still retains the overseas and honorable discharge chevrons. For disks it has US National Army and the flaming ordnance bomb. No name so far, but I haven't had much of a chance to check it out. There is also some really great stitch work on the sergeant chevron, well until you get to the bottom where it looks like he got tired of messing with it and got a little sloppy. Overall it is a rather interesting tunic. The buttons are unmarked and are a little more shiny than the usual. It is tailor made from a lightweight wool and along with the buttons, I am beginning to think that it may be French made. I will have to do some further investigating to see what may be hidden somewhere on the coat.

Next up is a 1st Army Engineers enlisted wool tunic for the 21st Railway (Light) Engineers. This uniform isn't named, but has US 21 and Engineer collar disks, 2 overseas stripes, Engineer PFC chevron and a honorable discharge chevron. It also yielded a prize in the pocket in the form of another Engineer PFC chevron, which is always welcome in my book. It also has fell victim to the dreaded button failure and lost two while the seller was manhandling it, but they will be replaced in due time. There are also a couple of small moth holes which do not detract from it much at all. Thanks, Mike

I also picked up a nice Gas and Flame Regiment patched cotton tunic. It doesn't have any rank, but does have a honorable discharge chevron on the left sleeve, and just above it the G&F patch. At the same seller there was a painted helmet with the same insignia, but both the uniform and helmet are not original to each other. It is a British Brodie as you can see by the split rivets on the bails and it does have an intact liner and chinstrap. The uniform itself is a little rough, but it is a scarce item as there are very few of either of these around.