Bill Shea's WWII Memorabilia Blog RSS

As many of you know, Patrick, Nikki and I are very much into the trilogy Back to the Future. Much of our spare time is devoted to making appearances at events such as weddings, Comic-Cons, birthday parties, conventions, movies-in-the-park etc... Our family does many of these Team Fox events to benefit The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. Most people see Michael as the face of Parkinson's, but there are millions of people dealing with the disease and it has many different faces and symptoms. One of my motivations is Major Dick Winters, who was the CO of Easy Company...

Ok, now be truthful, you've all heard about it. Chances are you know who wrote it and probably have an idea when it was first published. Chances are slimmer that you know what the title translates to and slim to none that you've ever read even a chapter in the book. Well, now you have another chance.     The book that "sold" over ten million copies in Germany alone by 1945 and some statistics claim sold as many copies as the Bible during its heyday, is readily available in a 2016 annotated version. It will help if you can read German because...

The Hitler Youth was a massive organization with membership in upwards of 8 million by 1940. By this time all males between the age of 14 and 18 were mandated to join this para-military group which in many cases mirrors our Boy Scouts. The dream sidearm for every member was the Hitler Youth knife (fahrtenmesser). This knife, like much of the equipment used during this time, underwent a series of changes during the Third Reich. Early examples up through 1939 had nickel-silver fittings, anodized scabbards, the maker's name and logo and the famous motto for the Hitler Youth which was "Blut und Ehre!". This literally...

-----It is with a heavy heart, that I tell you our very dear friend Jack Staehle passed away on Thursday December 29th, 2016. Many of you knew Jack, but just in case you did not, I am going to tell you about him.   My pal Jack Staehle  embodied all of the qualities I look for in a man. He was fiercely loyal, a true Patriot, a stubborn son-of-a bitch and a lifelong collector.  Jack was born Johann Jakob Staehle, on February 24, 1933, in Camden, N.J. As you can see from this picture of Jack, taken in 1935, either his...

...from my book The Stories Behind the Treasures of World War II "The Making of a Collectorholic" ****************************************** MY VERY FIRST GERMAN HELMET COST ME A FEW LOAVES OF BREAD… During my high school and college years, I worked a number of jobs to cover my tuition and bad habits. Like many militaria collectors, I’ve had a lifelong love of automobiles. This, combined with my growing first collection of militaria, usually kept my pockets quite empty. One of my summer jobs was selling Cushman bakery products. I had a route where I delivered fresh breads and pastries to families in...