Looking for some info on a Knife I found

C

Capt.Herbie

Joined
Oct 26, 2014
Messages
6
I recently lost a mentor and father figure to me, my Godfather. He was an avid pocket knife collector and watch collector. He was a WWII veteran of the U.S. Navy that like a lot of veterans down played and really did talk much about his service. I am 39 years old and only in the past 5 to 10 years have I had him talk and tell me stories. It has been three months since his passing and I recently went to his home to help my Godmother with some thing around the house and she wanted me to search for some thing, side bar my God father was a huge pack rat, saved everything and packed it away. While searching I had asked her if I find his WWII items can I get them out and have them. She knew I wanted them and said yes. After two days of looking through many boxes I found a trunk with all his papers from recruitment to discharge, including his discharge card for his wallet. The second item I found was the wood suitcase he shipped his uniforms and effect home in, in tack. I could tell he had been in it since he came home since I found some items in there in a local "Farmer Jacks" bag, those form the Ohio and Michigan area will know. Now to the question, there was a Ka-Bar that I have posted pics of. My question: Could this be a Ka-Bar he was issued during service? He was on the USS Telfair from commission to the end of the War. What makes me question is that most of the War Ka-Bars I have seen are wood handle, as you can see this one is a plastic. It is a MK1 Colonial with the Schubert. He liked his knifes and may have found this after later in life and just throw it in with his Navy items. Any help would be appreciated.
 
Welcome to the forum.

To post pics you will need to use am image hosting site such as photobucket. Upload your pics to them and paste the IMG link in your post.
 
Welcome to BladeForums!

To post pictures you have to use a photo hosting site such as Photobucket or Imgur. Upload them and the copy and paste the IMG link that is provided.

Paying members (Basic and above) can post pics directly from their computer. One of the perks. I still use Photobucket as it's extremely easy to use in conjunction with a smart phone with a camera.

Looking forward to seeing your grandfather's knife
 
Can basic members post pics directly onto their reply, like I've seen many others do, and if so how?
 
Yes, Basic members may. I think all you have to do is click on the Insert Image button on tool bar and they find the desired file. Don't quote me though as I still use Photobucket.

Basic is the first level of paid membership and is designated by a purple username. It's not the same as Registered User.
 
Balrog99 said:
Can basic members post pics directly onto their reply, like I've seen many others do, and if so how?
Click to expand...

Find a place to host your photos on the net, such as photobucket. Then in your message you post the "image code" that contains the location of the image on the net.
 
Sorry I meant registered user, but I have posts from photobucket before, I just wanted to know how to put the pic directly on the screen, and I have seen registered users do it.
 
On photobucket it should give you several links to the photo, any will work. The one with
 
Balrog99 said:
Sorry I meant registered user, but I have posts from photobucket before, I just wanted to know how to put the pic directly on the screen, and I have seen registered users do it.
Click to expand...

Copy and paste the 4th link in Photobucket.
 
Ok, now I have the pics up, any help would be appreciated. Again he served on board ship from 44 to 47. I have all his paperwork, uniforms and souvenirs he brought home. Just not sure about this knife, never seen it and he never said much about all the items I found.
 
From what I've found through google, your knife is one of some 42 variants of the standard Mk1 Navy issue sailors knife, which includes some produced by Ka-Bar. However this particular example was produced by Beckwith Mfg Co. while the sheath was produced by a division of Victory Plastics. These were produced from November 1943 to July 1944 and were standard issue for Navy sailors, so it's quite possible that it was in fact your Godfather's during his service period.

That being said, a total of ~600,000 "NORD-4723" marked knives of Mk 1 and Mk 2 variants were produced under contract, and many were available quite cheaply as surplus well after the war, so there's always the possibility that he picked it up some time after the fact. With that in mind, the fact that they were so commonplace might lend credence to it being his personal issue, and the time period and circumstances fit quite nicely, I think it's a fair assumption to make. Hope this helps.

Contract # - Contract $ - Est. Quant - Dates of Delivery

NORD 4723 - $521,000 - 600,000 - 11/43 7/44 - Mark 1 / Mark 2

NORD 6581 - $240,000 - 275,000 - 7/44 2/45 - Mark 2

NORD 6804 - $79,000 - 95,000 - 6/44 4/45 - Mark 1

NORD 8114 - $592,000 - 675,000 - 3/45 8/45 - Mark 1 / Mark 2

NORD 8676 - $125,000 - 150,000 - 3/45 12/45
Click to expand...

Sources: http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/edged-weapons/my-fathers-usn-mk2-knife-127793/
Levine's 1991 prices: http://s20.photobucket.com/user/51F6/media/0mk1.jpg.html

Cool piece, by the way, I love pieces of history - even more so when they have a personal story to accompany them. One of my most prized possessions is a German (Swiss made) PARA 782-S watch one of my great uncles brought back with him from the war. I know nothing about how he came to acquire it, which only adds to the intrigue.
 
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