War bring backs
- Thread starter ben hunchak
- Start date
Unfortunately fate wasn't kind to many of the vet bringbacks. I knew guys in rural Sask who brought home a lot of neat stuff which got trashed after they lost interest in it, died or moved on. Their widows weren't necessarily interested in keeping it, nor were their sons and daughters. One of the fellows had a stone mint Inglis HP which he "smelted" in the woodburning stove later in life. Too bad, because I had offered to buy it at various times over the yrs
. I also knew about more exotic stuff like a Thompson, a STEN or 2, an MP44 and an M3 Greasegun which no doubt got tossed in the slough or down the two holer at some point.
. I also knew about more exotic stuff like a Thompson, a STEN or 2, an MP44 and an M3 Greasegun which no doubt got tossed in the slough or down the two holer at some point.
Unfortunately fate wasn't kind to many of the vet bringbacks. I knew guys in rural Sask who brought home a lot of neat stuff which got trashed after they lost interest in it, died or moved on. Their widows weren't necessarily interested in keeping it, nor were their sons and daughters. One of the fellows had a stone mint Inglis HP which he "smelted" in the woodburning stove later in life. Too bad, because I had offered to buy it at various times over the yrs
What the f*ck is wrong with people??????
- Location
- Leduc County, Alberta
There were instances where RCEME troops DID bring back either their issued firearms or identical ones they got a hold of. I interviewed Ed Davies of London Ontario 15 years ago and he talked about it and showed me a .38 Enfield in the holster that he brought back. Joseph Herbert McAuliffe brought back a number of Canadian issued handguns and captured German sidearms plus Lee Enfields and one Number 32 scope for the sniper version. He also snuck in somehow a 1928A1 Thompson serial number S-173249 which is currently registered to a former OPP Detective Inspector who was killed in a car accident in Florida in 1966. The gun was supposedly stolen from his cottage near Ottawa sometime before that but the retired OPP officer I interviewed wasn't certain if it was recovered or not.
I have the list of McAuliffe's firearms and their serial numbers. I did own his Model 8 Walther for a number of years but sold it on consignment at EPPS in 2009. That was a bad decision.
Take a close look at your Grandfathers rifle. Check under the buttplate. If it is the real deal I think surviving family members will know the full story.
I have had two sets of vet brings backs. One was a P38, A M96 and three 455 revolvers (Webley, Smith and Colt).
The other set came from a fellow in the Canadian Artillery in Korea. His father died and he came home on compassionate leave. His batman packed his bags, which he later discovered included his M1 carbine (folding para stock model) and his Colt 45 (Remington Rand).
I never thought to ask hime why he had American sidearms. Maybe his unit was suppled by Americans?
The other set came from a fellow in the Canadian Artillery in Korea. His father died and he came home on compassionate leave. His batman packed his bags, which he later discovered included his M1 carbine (folding para stock model) and his Colt 45 (Remington Rand).
I never thought to ask hime why he had American sidearms. Maybe his unit was suppled by Americans?
Unfortunately fate wasn't kind to many of the vet bringbacks. I knew guys in rural Sask who brought home a lot of neat stuff which got trashed after they lost interest in it, died or moved on. Their widows weren't necessarily interested in keeping it, nor were their sons and daughters. One of the fellows had a stone mint Inglis HP which he "smelted" in the woodburning stove later in life. Too bad, because I had offered to buy it at various times over the yrs
During the summer of 1981 I was working for a brick layer named Lou Brennan of Orillia, Ontario. He was a member of the Orillia gun club and an avid shooter and collector. I remember one hot day we were on the scaffolding bricking the second floor of a new house at Price's Corners when a guy who knew Lou drove up and stopped to chat. He had been down to the local dump that day where he found a very nice WW1 Webley .455 short barreled revolver that someone had discarded with the trash. I handled the gun and never doubted the man's word for a moment. He wanted to keep it but didn't know what to do next so he was there to ask Lou about it.
The gun was in very nice shape and hadn't been outdoors exposed to the elements for very long by the look of it.
Anybody in the Orillia area who is a member of that club will remember Lou. He won the Ontario championship for the .45 automatic a number of times and displayed the trophies in his rec room.
Local fella has a P-38 that came back with his father. Another local has a Sten that was a bring back, was turned into a dewat about 30 years ago. A buddy of mine had a Mauser HSc and a really nice 98K that his grandfather managed to ship back to Canada while he was an aircraft mechanic.
When I asked my grandfather about it he said that he helped a friend of his stuff 3 pistols into a stuffed animal that was mailed home.
Keep an eye open for old, heavy, stuffed animals at a garage sale.
When I asked my grandfather about it he said that he helped a friend of his stuff 3 pistols into a stuffed animal that was mailed home.
Keep an eye open for old, heavy, stuffed animals at a garage sale.
I have a very fine condition Carcano carbine with folding bayonet that my Uncle Lou "liberated" during the Sicily invasion. I have no idea how he managed to get it home to New Brunswick, but the fact remains that it definitely did come back with him after the war. My Dad was 16 years old at war's end and he remembers Lou coming home with the carbine. He passed away about 10 years ago so I can't get the details on how he managed to get the carbine home. I also know he brought a Luger back as my Dad told me he saw and handled it personally, but nobody knows where it is today. I also know of a couple of Lugers and a few P-38's in my area that are genuine vet bringbacks.
Ganderite: I can tell you one reason he might have US isuue weapons, I was in Korea in 51-52 and when we were north of Seoul and we left camp we had to be armed. So you did not want to get you issue (#4,Sten, Browning HP) dirty or wet you swaped with a yank (usualy beer or Canadian Club Rye) for an 1911 or an M1 and as long as they were in working order you were ok. I had 1911 Colt and an M2 carbine. Lost em both when I was medivaced to a Norwegian MASH. Duker
Read what I wrote.You only took you issue weapon out for inspection where it had to be spotless clean, if you carryed it ouy of camp it got dirty, so you got a Yank issue weapon. It was not a matter of which was better . Of course if you were infantry you carried what you were issued. And comparing a sten to an Mi is like apples and oranges .Duker
I have a vet bring back. A BYF 44 K98.
No bayo or sling, just the rifle and all matching.
My uncle got it post war in Germany, during occupation duties.
They found a basement stash of 50 or so crates of rifles, NIW.
I first saw the rifle in 1955. It was as new then. Now, its been used a bit, by my uncle and myself. It has a few scratches but no didngs or dents.
The rifle is a tack driver, with ammunition that is loaded up to its full potential, velocity wise.
Anyway, he sent this rifle and another, which his son now owns back to Canada in early 1946, via the mail. There wasn't any problem that he mentioned. He did have to declare what was in the package though.
I guess since the war was officially over, the rules had changed. The rifles apparently weren't considered captured weapons and therefore not property of the crown.
He told me a lot of guys shipped home stuff while they were on occupation duty. There were valuable things in Europe that just couldn't be found in Canada and they were at fire sale prices. He also sent home a beautiful little 7x57, hex barrelled sporter, with double set triggers and a very ornately carved stock. His daughter loved that rifle and now her daughter uses it for hunting deer. She says her daughter will get it next. It has been very lovingly taken care of.
I suspect a lot of firearms came into Canada in the 1945-1948 period. Many of them probably saw battle service as well. From what I heard, the ruins of some cities were littered with weapons and it took several years to clean the obvious stuff up.
In 1976, I was in Vienna, Austria. They were demolishing an old building and came across an old arms cache in a secondary basement (basement to a basement).
There was just about every small arm of the period you could want in there. Machine guns, machine pistols, all sorts of pistols, rifles and ammunition.
They shut down the site pretty quickly and wouln't let any of the laborers leave, without being searched.
All of the spectators were herded out almost immediately. They had done this often before. It was handled with the precision of familiarity.
I tried to find out what happened to the firearms but it was deep dark secret.
I later talked to an aquaintance in the Austrian Army, stationed in Vienna and he told me they had a huge warehouse for this sort of thing and that such firearms went there for sorting and in some cases eventual destruction.
Back then, they were still selling certain types of these firearms to the world surplus markets. I wouldn't mind knowing what happened to them, just to satisfy my curiosity.
I couldn't see much from my perch but I can remember one of the workers picking up and inspecting a Panzerfaust and another looking over a K98. They looked clean but dusty, maybe from the demolition.
They had also dumped over a couple of crates of machine pistols and other pistols.
They obviously didn't suspect this stuff was there, or they would have been more careful and there certainly wouldn't have been any civilians around.
No bayo or sling, just the rifle and all matching.
My uncle got it post war in Germany, during occupation duties.
They found a basement stash of 50 or so crates of rifles, NIW.
I first saw the rifle in 1955. It was as new then. Now, its been used a bit, by my uncle and myself. It has a few scratches but no didngs or dents.
The rifle is a tack driver, with ammunition that is loaded up to its full potential, velocity wise.
Anyway, he sent this rifle and another, which his son now owns back to Canada in early 1946, via the mail. There wasn't any problem that he mentioned. He did have to declare what was in the package though.
I guess since the war was officially over, the rules had changed. The rifles apparently weren't considered captured weapons and therefore not property of the crown.
He told me a lot of guys shipped home stuff while they were on occupation duty. There were valuable things in Europe that just couldn't be found in Canada and they were at fire sale prices. He also sent home a beautiful little 7x57, hex barrelled sporter, with double set triggers and a very ornately carved stock. His daughter loved that rifle and now her daughter uses it for hunting deer. She says her daughter will get it next. It has been very lovingly taken care of.
I suspect a lot of firearms came into Canada in the 1945-1948 period. Many of them probably saw battle service as well. From what I heard, the ruins of some cities were littered with weapons and it took several years to clean the obvious stuff up.
In 1976, I was in Vienna, Austria. They were demolishing an old building and came across an old arms cache in a secondary basement (basement to a basement).
There was just about every small arm of the period you could want in there. Machine guns, machine pistols, all sorts of pistols, rifles and ammunition.
They shut down the site pretty quickly and wouln't let any of the laborers leave, without being searched.
All of the spectators were herded out almost immediately. They had done this often before. It was handled with the precision of familiarity.
I tried to find out what happened to the firearms but it was deep dark secret.
I later talked to an aquaintance in the Austrian Army, stationed in Vienna and he told me they had a huge warehouse for this sort of thing and that such firearms went there for sorting and in some cases eventual destruction.
Back then, they were still selling certain types of these firearms to the world surplus markets. I wouldn't mind knowing what happened to them, just to satisfy my curiosity.
I couldn't see much from my perch but I can remember one of the workers picking up and inspecting a Panzerfaust and another looking over a K98. They looked clean but dusty, maybe from the demolition.
They had also dumped over a couple of crates of machine pistols and other pistols.
They obviously didn't suspect this stuff was there, or they would have been more careful and there certainly wouldn't have been any civilians around.
