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Help... my old neighbor is crazy!
- Thread starter JuJu-
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- Jun 5, 2012
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In the end there, you're a good man dude. If everything you say is true then there is no real value to your neighbor if in fact his kids have no interest. Sounds like you do have a good relationship with your neighbors and it sounds like you already have the answer in talking to him about and sharing your mementos and seeing if he'll part with the bayonet. If he likes you and digs your true story I'm sure he will part with it for free, you do have a great story there with emotion. I'm sure that's how it'll work out and obviously to reciprocate his generosity you can pull his dandelions from now on. Win win..
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Tell him he may be destroying a nice piece of history. It should be hanging on his wall.
Offer to take care of his dandelion problem because it pains you to see him use that great piece of militaria.
Maybe he'll leave it to you in his will. That would mean more to you than just buying it off him, or talking him out of it.
Just be glad you didn't see him using a real samurai sword war trophy, like many of those G.I.s "liberated" after the war.
Offer to take care of his dandelion problem because it pains you to see him use that great piece of militaria.
Maybe he'll leave it to you in his will. That would mean more to you than just buying it off him, or talking him out of it.
Just be glad you didn't see him using a real samurai sword war trophy, like many of those G.I.s "liberated" after the war.
JuJu-
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No worries, It will indeed be a sad day when all those vets from the longest day are no more.
JuJu-
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After thinking it over the past few days, and with some more insight and good points from my fellow brothers here on B.F., it doesn't matter in the end. It would be great to be able to hold that piece of history and continue to share it, but If it means that much to him i will not bug him or pursue any longer. I guess I got wrapped up in the begining of it and wasn't thinking about his memories. I was just thinking about it rusting away into history. I have not got the chance to talk to him yet, but as i said I will post up when I do.
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You could offer to do periodic maintenance on that bayonet. Clean it up and apply some oil. Maybe even sharpen it for him.
My german bayo: I believe its a kar 98 k but have not nailed it down exactly yet. any ideas?
Hello, I am a new member from Italy, a hunter and a fisher, a knife and arms collector for over 40years,
that bayo is not german but an italian model 91/38, made in 1938 for the rifle "Mannlicher-Carcano mod. 1891".
Salute, Paolo.
No hijack! You're right! My dad is a WWII vet. He's 84...had to lie about his age to get in the Marine Corps in '44. He got on the last of the Flight of Honor trips just last month. These men were indeed the greatest generation. I wish I could get him to talk about his time in the Marines. He stayed for 24 years, retiring in '68 as an E9. He loved it, but got out before I was born. But as much as he loved it, he won't talk about much of it at all.
JuJu-
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Thats an awesome story! I really hope he talks to you, so you can carry on his story. My grandpa was a tech sergeant when he got out. unfortunatley he committed suicide in the 60's and no one knows his story. My mother was only 3 when he passed. WE are both along with my uncle looking into his history in the army. It's hard to say why exactly he doesn't like to talk about it. Maybe it stirs up some bad memories. Thats a double edge sword.
timberweasel
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Kudos to the OP for taking an active interest in building a good rapport with his neighbours! :thumbup: Sadly, a 'sense of community' is on the decline these days... 
I like the idea of offering to clean up and sharpen his ol' bayonet. Maybe he'd let you take a few pics of him and his 'refreshed' dandelion killer and you'd both have a memento...
ETA: I really enjoyed this thread... thanks!
I like the idea of offering to clean up and sharpen his ol' bayonet. Maybe he'd let you take a few pics of him and his 'refreshed' dandelion killer and you'd both have a memento...
ETA: I really enjoyed this thread... thanks!
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Looking over this thread I am seeing another side that is a way to look at it and that is the picture of using swords for plowshares or bayonets for lawn tools if you will. Maybe that is a testimony to what was accomplished in WWII by all those young men and women who served the Allied Forces. Fascism was stopped at a high cost, the weapons of war and factories that made them have other uses. More wars followed and will happen in the future but that one did the world a good service of immeasurable worth. Our active duty vets young and old have to reframe their own experiences of active combat, some need to hold onto tokens to honor their and our losses, others honor the fallen and wounded by not holding onto tokens but memories spoken and buried.
http://www.euroarms.net/Mailing/ele050210/elenco050210_13.htm
Hello, the bayo and the folder are of one 91/38.......see this link (I hope it works),
at the end of the war they used anything they had in the arsenal,
even austrian blades confiscated in the first war......
Rgrds, Paolo.
Thanks. I would love to get his story, but I doubt I ever will. I think the memories are too strong. The one thing I've heard (through my mom) is that his best friend's head was taken off by Jap machinegun fire on his first landing. He got splattered. That was his first experience. How he could have stayed through three wars, I don't know. He does talk about his two years in China (The China Marines) from 1945-47. He loved that time. I'm sure I have a half-brother or two over there!
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Go to any hardware or home improvement store and get him a dandelion digger. Basically a metal rod with a sharpened (slightly) "V" fork on a wood pole. Works very well. I use one occasionally when the wife forces me to; I like dandelions - they are pretty little flowers, you can eat the greens and make wine from the flowers. Why dig them up and kill them?
Rich (one of those elderly folks you mentioned
I have had dandelion wine, not too bad really! A little bitter, but I think the guy who made it got impatient and wanted to try it earlier.
JuJu-
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Yeah thats it! Great, i'm glad to know what exactly it is. SO are you saying this is german used? Something that they had laying around? Or do you think it was italian like the italian social republic or before that?? Probably next to immposible to know i just had to ask!
JuJu-
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I did. That was how we found them in the basement. I took these right after i got them home!
JuJu-
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Very well said. I was thinking this also. Maybe it's a way to reconnect, or a way to remember. Maybe it's their way of saying something with out saying anything at all. I know everyone has their own reasons. I can only imagine what vets like my neighbor and 10thMtn's dad think about the way things played out, and how little things they do everyday are ways to remember and ways to forget.