In 27 years of service, I've got one item that means anything to me. It is the 1st P38/ John Wayne can openner. Given to me (ok hurled at me) by my Sr Drill instructor, during Marine Corpd boot camp in 1976.

This is my second post on this thread....sorry for the repeat.......but my wife was cleaning out our attic recently and pulled out a plastic bag of old stuff my late mother must have saved for me. Typical stuff - old letters, SAT Scores, etc.

The item that really hit me most though was a notebook I carried in Vietnam. It has the names of the guys in my FO team when we were with the ARVN Rangers, the names of my contacts in various villages I worked with, old call signs. The one thing that amazed me was that a good part of the notations were written in my hand - in Vietnamese. It's been so long I cannot read most of what I wrote back then. It even has the redeployment plans for the 1st Marine Division in 1970. (No - I did not carry the notebook with me into the bush with the Rangers. It was only in "the rear with the gear".)

It now moves to my most favorite souvenier.

Another cool item we have in our home belonged to my late father-in-law. It is a pre-WWII roundel from an N3N-3 that he was in when a flight student of his crashed it at Pensacola in 1941. Both walked away. He later had the roundel placed under glass on a nice custom-made mahogony coffee table that was in his den for years. It now has a place of honor in our home.

Whiskey6 (Davev)

Second post: I was going thur some old boxes and found and item I thought was lost forever ago. After the Gulf war I was sent to Fort Huachuca, Az. Served there three years. Took alot of kidding for being the only Artillery officer in an Military Intelligence Battalion. On my last day in the 309thMI Bn. My commanding Officer at formations hands me one of thier new battalion coins. Could not hide my laughter when I read the back of the coin. They misspelled intelligence.

I have not served in the military, but I have some friends whos given me some very nice things. My favourite is probably some Marble from one of Sadams Palace's, its only a pice of stone, but its pretty cool when you think where its been.

The best one I've gotten (and probably ever will because of medical issues) is a general's coin from GEN Dick Cody, US Army Vice Chief of Staff. I received it while talking with him at the Indy 500 last year.

Jeff

My Command Sgt Major's coin. and my first P38 can opener from Nam.

I've got the old patches from my ship (USS Wainwright CG28), my ballcap, and a chunk of the railing from the Bridge that i bought last year after they scuttled her.

I also have (well, my folks have it, but I've already staked my claim out on it) my Great,Great Grandfathers Discharge from the Union Army. It's one of those huge affairs; 4ft X 2ft, full color, listing all the battles he was in, including the surrneder of Lee at Appomatox.

Aside from that, I have stuff I have collected on my own from WWII Bayonets, Deutch reichs, etc. I've often wondered if my Uncle had anything from WWII, but he was so shut up about it, noone really knows.

My Dad was stationed in germany in the 50's, and ended up being some kind of liason for the NSA, so when he passes his stuff down to me, Im sure there'll be a few goodies to look at. i seem to recalla whole drawer full of stuff from when I was a kid.

The most important souvenirs for me, is an Afghan flag signed by all the members of the Danish contingent, as well as the Afghan intrepreters belonging to my liaison team.

Bjoern

My grandfather died in 2001. He was an Italian immigrant attending North Eastern University in Boston when ww2 broke out. He graduated and enlisted with the Navy. The Navy would not allow him to serve in the European AO so he was shipped to the Pacific where he flew F6F Hellcats over Pelileu, The Philipines, and Okinowa. He downed 7 Japanese fighters and bombers and aided in sinking two submarines. His shipmates joked that he was also a Japanese ace because he was shot down three times by ground fire and crashed another two times due to mechanical errors (he met his wife, my grandmother, after one of his crashes; she was a southern belle from Georgia and a Navy nurse).He eventually served as an advisor in Korea. He left the Navy after Korea and moved into service for the Department of State. He was the Councelor General in Saigon during the late 60's early 70's.

I currently have his decorations, flight suit, flight helmets (leather and ceramic), his service .38 and .45, his log books, various japanese anti-aircraft shells he took from the floor of one of his downed birds, and countless war stories that inspired me to join the military.

As family historian I am also in posession of the rest of my passed relatives kit; including my great grandfather's uniform from Bellaue Wood.

-Mike

I have never served but my parents bought a cottage 11 years ago from an old lady who's husband was in the navy. So I have Some USN cutlery, USN towels, and a USN hat insignia of the eagle holding a shield and two anchors. Plus my I lived in Saudi for six years and have some AK shells, AK Bayonet, Iraqi ceremonial Naval Dagger, and a US issue Gas Mask from the Gulf War 1.

Aside from the "this' and that's" that I've collected while in the Army (I love my 155mm training round), I have a fair amount of pictures of my Father and uncles from their time during WWII (ribbons, pins, badges, patches) and of my Father-in-Law (in the German Army on the Russian front - Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class and silver wound badge).

But...the item that means the most to me is my Great-Great-(another great?) Grandfather's Starr Arms .54 cal carbine he used during the Civil War (and a picture of him holding it!).

Mike

My father has photos like that, he's also got a piece of it put away for keep sake. The best souvenir I have though, is probably an AK bayonet I found in really good condition. It was a hassle and a half though to be able to keep it.

The best souvenir I got from Vietnam was me.

From my service I have some small tokens, a ballcap from the USS San Fransisco that was given to me by a crewmember after thay ran aground in 2005, another ballcap from a Colombian Navy ship (also got a kilo of pure colombian . . . coffee) and the handcuffs that I used while a MA.

But my most prized things are; the shadow box that contains my Grandfather's medals, including his purple heart with , two bronze stars, which he recieved in Korea, and my father's retirement flag.

When my Dad retired from the Navy he gave the flag to me and told me to take care of her. I enlisted two years later after graduating high school.

I'm the third generation to serve in the US Navy.

I have a M-1916 German helmet brought back from World War One by a great-great uncle that eventually found its way into my possession via my grandad.

Not exactly "war booty" but my mother still has a carved wooden box and a wooden puzzle made for her by a German PoW (a carpenter by trade) who was put to work on a nearby farm in England during World War Two when she was a young girl.

- Steve

you guys have probably all had heaps better souvenirs than this, but it is still pretty awesome to me as a kid

when my dad game home from a training exercise he brought home a 50cal shell..that was pretty cool but then he pulled out a "Bush-Master chain gun" shell.. now that was impressive

Smithy.

I've only seen them a couple of times, but my mother, who is from Belfast, has a handful of medals from a relative who fought in the Boar War in South Africa. There's probably not a lot of those still around.

A Vietnam veteran I used to work with, who was corpman, has the Pathet Lao knife he was stabbed with by the wounded Viet Cong soldier he was attending to on the battlefield. This happened during the very early days of the war. He volunteered to become a corpman as the ship he was on was making its way to Vietnam. He was orginally in the navy, which is the branch of service they used to recruit and train all corpman. Is that still true?
He had to transfer from his ship to another via that bucket-seat thingy strung between the ships to begin his training. He still can't stand the sight of rice!

Hi all
I was in the Recce platoon for the South African Marines.
I spend 3 years in total in Angola and the bush war.
I've got a couple of goodies that's very close to my heart.
My marine knife, Rhodesian SAS clothes and badges,a SWAPO cap of my first contact when I was 19.
I've also got some items friends gave me and that I got from my trips overseas.
I've got a .50 browning shell from the Golan Hights that were fired during one of the major battles.
I've got some more but will list them later.

I'm back..
My biggest and best item is an Enfield .303 rifle that was build in 1917.
I bought this from a British South African Policeman who inherited this from his grandfather.
His grandfather was a professional hunter and did culling for the tobacco companies in the old Rhodesia.
He shot elephant and buffalo, the meat was canned and sold.
When I got the rifle years after the old hunter passed away he shot 11 000 buffalo's and 9000 elephants. I read some of his diary entries,some days he shot 300 buffalo's and 100 elephants a day it was amazing. It took me 3 weeks to clean and refurbish the .303. I put a scope on it and am still hunting with it today.
When I go on hunting trips the other hunters cannot stop looking at my old lady.
And she shoots like a pro so far every shot was a kill not one miss.

I have a colt 1911 and a trench knife that my great grandfather brought back from WWI.

My favorite souvenir that I brought back from Viet Nam is my ass. It has an extra hole in it,but still works fine. Word of advice. Do not sit/fall on a punji stick during a fire fight. Tends to be a distraction. Second favorite are my dogtags with a P-38 still attached. One other thing is a small VC flag and some North Vietnam money with Uncle Hos picture on it.

I am lucky in that I have my Grand Fathers medals and cap badge from WW2, I also have his discharge papers and a German silver cross he took off of a German officer who had the nerve to shoot his dog and suffered the consequences, and lastly a German wounded in action badge.

On my wife’s side I have various articles from WW1 which surprisingly are most Russian items. My wife’s father was in the Royal Artillery and served at the end of WW2 through to the end of the Korean War. From that service I have his medals and various papers, various artillery shells with the biggest being a 4inch shell.
Here is a picture displaying the details on the base of the shell if anyone can identify it.

I also have a huge amount of paper from Korea ranging from beer bottle labels, adverts for brothels, cig packets, and various give “up you have lost” air drop papers.

My items range from gas masks, Noddy suits (NBC suits), helmets, just about every cap badge from the British Army that was in the 1980’s (Including Jewish and Christian chaplains), and US and Canadian badges. There is also a large number of cloth patches and rank badges, belts and the like. My favourite item from my own collection is a US Air Force silver wings.

From one of my Uher Opas (Great Grandpa) I received a Bavarian Second Class Medal of Valor and a Death notification of his 2 sons on the Eastern Front; a pair of French field glasses from WW I and a pair from WWII from my other Uher Opa (He said he liked France so much the first time he went back again). My Opa left me his Afrika Korps cuff band.
My collection: I have a M113 track and pad (best doorstop and conversation piece I've ever had [not really a souvenir, just something interesting that I found in a Motor Pool]), a build/ID plate from a Soviet Trench digger..., a KGB Engineer's ID (I sold his watch on Ebay a couple of years ago; didn't need to know what time it was in Moscow,Kiev, etc.), a rocket fragment from a Hind-D (which was expended just for me), a Cuban Sawback Machete (which was used on my left leg), a Nicaraguan Officer's cap (vacated seconds before I acquired it), a US .45 slug which one of my canteens caught for me, my Official Unofficial hand carved "Kills" necklace with the little bone skulls and a P-38 (you just never know when you gotta open a can in the middle of the Jungle), and my Official "Demolition" knife that came free in every Engineer box (carried from 1985 to right now in my pocket [I forgot to leave it in the car before I boarded a flight to LA in '02 and they let me on-board with it after I told them I would rather miss the flight and keep my knife]). I have some of my tax dollars in goodies too, but that's all for a bad day (not mine).

My dad is a pilot, and he went to Moscow(I bleive, could be another city) and Saint Petersberg and got me two soviet summer hats(kahki and light olive drab) and two soviet winter hats(the fluffy ones, one is dark grey and the other is black)