When I was 9 or 10 years old, I found a dusty wooden foot locker sort of trunk in my grandmother's basement. Upon opening I discovered, in wonderment, my late grandfather's complete kit from his stateside training and 18 months overseas with the AEF in France during WW1 - steel dishpan helmet, gas mask, medals and ribbons, his beat up and bent bugle, blouse with all his patches, pants, overseas cap, a massive trench coat that felt like it weighed about 20 lbs., smokey bear hat from stateside training, canvas belt, leggings, socks, hobnail boots with leg wraps and leggings, pack, entrenching tool, a loooong bayonet with scabbard, canteen & case, first aid pouch, cartridge belt, trench lighter, some kind of haversack, and 2 different types of trench knives with scabbards, and a 15" long bundle of letters he wrote to his mother tied up in string.
There was also stuff he took off German prisoners - 3 pickelhaubes, a coal scuttle helmet, some Iron Crosses, a deactivated potato masher grenade, and: a Luger pistol in its holster with a spare magazine, with a Gott Mit Uns buckle and belt.
Well, my grandmother found me one day wearing and carrying most of that stuff and was afraid of the worst; she called the police and had them take away the Luger and the bayonet.
Maybe if I had waited until I was older, she might have let me have them.
I lucked out on the trench knives, as they were stashed in the haversack and not discovered by the intruders, and I got them later along with some of the letters, all his patches and medals, his bugle, an Iron Cross, the Gott Mit Uns buckle and his trench lighter. My grandmom threw the rest out, claiming it had all gotten all wet. The letters were all written in pencil, and could have been saved.
I read them all at the time, but I would really, really like to have them today.
