What an odd but interesting document, I thought, as I spied the blank form titled “Prisoner of War” inside a plastic covering on the auction table. I’d never seen anything like it before and wondered…
Category: Military
When I saw the dummy grenade in the glass case, I knew it was someone’s idea of a joke. Instead of recoiling from this faux weapon, I asked the auction-house staffer to take it out…
Guess the current equivalents of these items from the past
Posted in Ephemera/Paper/Documents, Kitchen, Military, Music, and travel
When I first saw the Western Union telegram, Jerry Butler started singing in my head: “Oh, Western Union man, send a telegram to my baby Send a telegram, send a telegram, whoa Send a telegram…
American Red Cross Clubs for blacks in WWII Paris
Posted in Black history, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, history, and Military
The map with the red cross was innocent enough. Anyone seeing the symbol would automatically know that it represented the American Red Cross before seeing the name across the top. I didn’t think much about…
The man and the airplane in the photo were from another era. He had a speck of a smile, and he was wearing an early 20th century U.S. Navy pilot’s uniform, with cap and goggles.…
‘Get on the Good Foot’ & other lingering memories
Posted in Black history, collectibles, Dolls, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, and Military
The James Brown 45 record with the orange label lay near the edge of the table, its title releasing sweet memories for folks of a certain generation who instantly recognized it. One man recalled buying “Get on the Good Foot”…
A fierce skeleton soldier armed & ready
Posted in Health & Medicine, and Military
I had just passed the Blues Brothers Jake and Elwood in their trademark sunglasses and black suits singing their hearts out when I rounded the curve in the room at the auction house and saw…
A print of Buffalo Soldiers at Cuba’s San Juan Hill
Posted in Art, Black history, history, and Military
As I approached the display of books and documents on the table, the words 9th and 10th Calvary in a title stirred my memory. Weren’t those the African American soldiers who charged with Teddy Roosevelt, I…
G.A.R. grave markers of Union soldiers
Posted in Death, flea market, history, and Military
You can’t sell those on eBay, the man told the dealer, referring to two cast iron Civil War grave markers that she was selling at a flea market over the weekend. The two markers were…