Most of us have other military or quasi-military bit and pieces acquired while collecting or given to us or inherited. And some of us, by nature, are what Americans call "pack rats" and seen have amassed quite a bit.

Here is a piece of mine: A prewar (1940) cap badge from the Texas Agricultural & Mechanical College Corps of Cadets.

It is made from the US Army officers cap at that time with an arc added across the top with "A&MC".

Now you guys look in the back of that desk drawer and show us some of your "stuff"

My dad wore one of those on his cap there while attending school at A&M.
They wore 'campaign hats' like the Smokey Bear hats for the first couple of years.
All wool in Texas, cooked your head with only two small air vents.
Attached is a later pic.
WW2 veteran, Corps of Engineers, he died 9 years ago at age 92.
I miss him.

Tex,

Thanks. Do you by any chance still have his cap badge ?

Now, can I ask you to show an artifact from your old desk drawer?

Thanks,
Dave

I didn't have to go too far, just to my keyring.
I was born at Walter Reid in D.C. while my father was serving in the Corps of Engineers at Ft. Belvoir.
He had a dog tag made for me with his serial # on it and adding 1/2 as I am a Jr. It's going in my coffin with me.
I wonder what would happen on Bashford Land if it was sent there. Google shows it's still there.

Cool, Tex

I think Walter Reed is closed or mostly so. It is a very old building as I remember.

Anybody else got some "stuff" ?

Dave

The TE is for TEMPLE ( had relatives near this address )

how phone numbers were memorized back then.

I had a TA for Taylor, got replaced by 827

thanks for showing this

Interesting piece

1. Dallas, married still enlisted man.

2. Officer.

3. Whistle and name tag from troop training

Cool !

Thanks for posting.

Dave

the last of my ground dug stuff. From Eastern Ukraine.

Soviet cigg case from the big Patriotic War parade in Moscow right after the war..

Soviet cigg case.. Hero city of Kiev..

LAH cigg case..

Soviet POW made.. Aluminum,,reverse done up too

Uncle Joe himself... This used to hang in my Mother-in-laws restaurant!

Vase or something[?]

Saki cup.. Tiny thing,,smaller than our 'shot glass'..

used to have a gigantic dog tag collection, a couple 100! Until,, I started seeing cans of NOS blank tags come up from the ground in Eastern Ukraine,,,and,,stamp letter/number sets too! So I decided to stop.. Sold a bunch,,lost a bunch to flooding... Ended up with these. The easy to recognize [for tag collectors] and unique tags,,,most SS. Bottom row are some POW Stalag tags..

There are a couple books out there on tag collecting. IF you are in to them or thinking about it,,the books are a must! The units with unique fonts are the best/safest to collect..

collecting tags back in the 70s, 80s etc used to be pretty easy... You saw one,,you bought it.. Once the USSR broke up and diggers found out that they could feed their families for a month with 2 or 3 tags thats when the real problems arose.!

Something like this,,,almost impossible to counterfeit.. Unique stamps, unorthodox size etc... - A rare tag:

Soviet propaganda porcelain. These used to be plentiful for a while after the breakup of the USSR.. Lately not so many seen when you go.. People are either holding on to them hoping the price will increase or asking way way to much for them...

Some of the rarer plates are bringing in good money... ,,another area of collecting where the book[s] are a must!

these are nice when you find them. Most republics each had their own,, pertaining to their help towards victory during the 'Great Patriotic War'! Many around 3",,solid bronze and usually in their own velvet bag or in their own award case [hard to find!]

The detail on most are excellent! This photo does not do these justice. They show - infantry battles,,air war,,navy,,with tank battles seem to be the favorite!

moved most of my Wolchowstocks,,,but kept 3... This is one of them:

has a small chain with a mini EK on it! , Russland

ok, I see still a editing problem; more,,

sorry for the poor photos:

The sticks are great- someone might have an original Russland 1942 ring to go with it ;)