Search found 111 matches

by riptidenj
Fri Sep 25, 2009 5:18 pm
Forum: Veterans Remember
Topic: remembering "Market Garden"
Replies: 2
Views: 2717

Re: remembering "Market Garden"

Market Garden was like Fall Herbstnebel/Die Wacht and Rhein aka the Ardennes Offensive-the Battle of the Bulge. The objective was too far away, the axis of advance too narrow and limited-one account I read recently about the Bulge pointed out that the weather and the terrain limited the Germans"...
by riptidenj
Mon Aug 24, 2009 6:35 pm
Forum: Other things we collect
Topic: English Bicycles
Replies: 0
Views: 2003

English Bicycles

For whatever reasons I ended up growing Anglophile in the 1950s and 60s, one of the things I acquired a taste for was the English 3 Speed Bicycle-an "English Race" as it was often (incorrectly) called in the 1950s. I own only 1 at present, a 1969 Robin Hood-lower end Raleigh-that I purchas...
by riptidenj
Mon Aug 24, 2009 6:14 pm
Forum: Veterans Remember
Topic: One of the last that remain
Replies: 2
Views: 2579

Re: One of the last that remain

I read "Currahee" shortly after I joined the Army in 1967. Excellent.
by riptidenj
Mon Aug 24, 2009 6:13 pm
Forum: Swiss, French, Belgian & Dutch Weapons
Topic: Current Swiss Military Issue
Replies: 1
Views: 3844

Current Swiss Military Issue

What are the currently issued small arms of the Swiss Armed Forces?
by riptidenj
Tue Aug 18, 2009 6:34 pm
Forum: Veterans Remember
Topic: Hey Geezers
Replies: 16
Views: 9427

Re: Hey Geezers

I was home on leave (I was in the Army) between assignments, I remember hearing about it on the radio and thinking those kids are absolutely crazy. The one person I knew who was there said the place stunk to high heaven, hippie and counterculture types weren't too keen on personal hygiene. I never e...
by riptidenj
Wed Aug 05, 2009 4:13 pm
Forum: Accoutrements
Topic: West German water bottle
Replies: 6
Views: 5630

Re: West German water bottle

Shows Uncle Sam's influence-we adopted the canteen (as we say) with cup fitting on the bottom) in 1910 or so. I went through BCT in 1967, my canteen was marked 1918. I like the wide mouth, probably easy to insert ice cubes on a hot summer's day. Since this is West German, probably designed to hold K...
by riptidenj
Sun Jul 19, 2009 4:53 pm
Forum: Swiss, French, Belgian & Dutch Weapons
Topic: Bastille Day 2009
Replies: 13
Views: 10736

Re: Bastille Day 2009

What about the gas mask? In my day-US Army 1967-1971 as an EM, the official explanation was that more than 3 days growth of bear would break the face seal on the then issue M-17 gas mask. Beards and mustaches were going of fashion in the USA by the start of WWI, Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893) was the...
by riptidenj
Mon Jul 13, 2009 11:00 pm
Forum: US Military Rifles
Topic: Survival Rifle.
Replies: 4
Views: 4769

Re: Survival Rifle.

I have always been puzzled by these "survival rifles", the US made ones always seemed to be crudely made ones-the one pictured looks like one assembled from one of these "make your own firearms" books, 22 Hornet might be a perfectly respectable cartridge but I suspect there wasn'...
by riptidenj
Mon Jul 13, 2009 10:46 pm
Forum: Veterans Remember
Topic: A memorial
Replies: 5
Views: 3599

Re: A memorial

IIRC Christopher Wren is buried in St. Paul's Cathedral, the plaque marking the spot says in Latin: "Si Monumedtum
Requiris Circumspice"-"If you seek his monument, look around you". The world we have lived in was built by men Like Shifty Powers.
by riptidenj
Mon Jul 13, 2009 10:42 pm
Forum: Veterans Remember
Topic: Robert S. McNamara dead at 93
Replies: 1
Views: 1962

Re: Robert S. McNamara dead at 93

I will yield my spot in line for his grave to the holder of a Purple Heart.