Way OT Luger

This is way off topic. My Father, Bill Shuler was my hero. He passed away on Easter day 2007. I was looking at a few items he passed down to me from his war years the other night. Like many others he never spoke of the war. I knew he was in the army but knew little else. After the 50th anniversary of D-day he slowly opened up and told me a very edited version of his time in the service. He landed on Utah I think 16 days or so post D-day. Fought all across France. Including the bulge and crossed the Rhine. He was a very kind and gentle man so it just blows my mind he was in the middle of such an awful mess. I asked him many time how he came to have the luger. He always changed the subject. I asked one more time when he was in his 80s. After a long pause he said" sometimes our guys where meaner than the Germans". I hope you guys enjoy looking at it. To keep it tractor related I also have Dads Farmall C.

I'd love to have such a collectable !
Closest thing I have is a bayonet and belt my wife's uncle gave me. He was in Korea and it fits my M1 Grand.

I have known several guys who have since passed and you knew were in the war but like you said they never talked about it much. I never would press the issue either.

A wonderful family heirloom. Keep it safe at all costs. You can probably read between the lines on what he told you. Probably the German soldier he got it from had no further use for it. Should you choose to shoot it be sure to use the lightest load cartridge you can find. Modern loads will damage the rather unique mechanism in short order. Better yet would be to oil it up good and store in a clean dry safe place. We have a Civil War musket. And my heirs have been instructed that no one is to EVER try firing it!

Neighbor was in WWII. After they forced the enemy to retreat, they started looking in the foxholes and rifle pits for souvenirs. In one foxhole was a Luger and a German camera. This guy's buddy warned him not to touch the Luger as it was probably a booby trap. His buddy grabbed the camera though - and it was booby trapped and killed his buddy. The Luger wasn't booby trapped so he brought it back home after the war ended.

That is a awesome remembrance from you father, I hope you can keep it in your family forever. You can get your fathers DD 214 from the government which is your fathers service record.

Your received some excellent advise about what to shoot if you should choose to shoot the pistol. Do some research on the correct loading for it.

You have a very valuable piece of history there to say nothing about the sentimental value. The value of those Luger's can run into several thousand dollars, depending on the condition and if the serial numbers match. Take good care of that piece of history.

My dad was in the Navy. Saw a lot of water, but no combat. Was transferred off two ships that were subsequently lost. He didn't talk about his service either. Think that many just wanted to put the war behind them, and get on with life.

Well, I don't know where you came up with the 'light load' thing. I've owned numerous and still own a Luger. The axis 9mm was a bit hotter than what we are used to here. All of mine commonly got 'stove pipe' jams due to the cartridge not being powerful enough. That knee action mechanism is very tough and I had to get another main spring for the one I kept and cut a loop off it to get it to function reliably on standard 9mm ammo.

I have always wanted a Luger but they cost way to much for me to want to spend that much $$

Reading your father's story, I think of my late uncle Walter Matthews from New Hampshire. He too fought at the Bulge and others. Never talked about. His brother Ed was at Iwo Jima. Two of the nicest people you could meet. Wouldn't want to cross either of them though.

My wife had an older cousin, now deceased, who was awarded the Bronze Star as an Army Lieutenant in Germany in WWII.

All he ever said was they gave him the Bronze Star for getting his platoon lost in the Black Forest. He's been gone for ten years and the rest of us still have more questions than answers. No one can even recall seeing his citation for the Bronze Star, which would probably describe the events.

He has a brother, still living, who also was a combat veteran of WWII, but he's in a nursing home with mild dementia. Both were lifelong bachelors, and my wife is the nearest living relative, so their activities are probably lost forever.

My dad fought in the Pacific theater as a US Army infantryman. About the only thing he would talk about was coming back on the hospital ship and worrying about being torpedoed. Apparently they sent the ship at best speed by itself. His wounds cost hi his leg from mid calf down. Him and the other wounded who couldn't walk figured that if a Japanese sub got them they were going down with the ship.

Rick

When you are seperated from the service a DD214 is made out. It is a standard form of seperation, all service men are instructed to have the DD 214 recorded in there county that they live in. So this makes it easy to get a copy, goto your local Veterans officier. He will help you get the Dd 214 and any records available. The US Army had a fire in a storage depo and many WW 2 records are lost forever.
I wish all lots of luck finding this info. joe

I believe there are some sites that list WWII medal recipients. Google and see if your relative is listed.

For the guys there it was a tough time. Wife' Father and 3 uncles served, one lost at Iwo. I had 9 Uncles serve one was at D-Day invasion. None were lost. One was where ever Patton went. He never talked to anyone we know of about it. One funny story, an uncle captured a SS group. When ask what he did with them he said he didn't know what to do until the rest got there so he bought them a beer.

One of my Dad's Uncles rode across France with Patton as a track mechanic. He told a story about one time they had captured a bunch of Germans. They had them detained in a fenced in area. He notices one of the Germans has a case with him that appears to be an accordion. He walks up to the fence and with hand gestures gets the German to show him the accordion, before to long they're passing it back and forth across the fence each playing a little tune. After a while Uncle slips back to his half track and pulls out a bottle he had been saving for an occasion. He and the prisoner spend the evening passing the bottle and the accordion back and forth. The next day they're rounding up the prisoners to turn them over to the unit that is going to incarcerate them. A bonfire is built and the Germans are being told they had to dump their personal effects that they could't march with into the fire. The German gets a panicked look on his face when he realizes he's to burn his accordion. He looks around and sees Uncle, runs over and gives him the accordion. Uncle had the accordion in his half track for the rest of the war, although it did take some shrapnel. He did manage to get it home but don't know if he ever got it fixed. I have one of his accordions but I don't think it's this one.

My Paternal Grandmother was 1/2 Italian and 1/2 French Canadian, they grew up speaking Italian and French, English became a 3rd language when they moved from Maine to northern Illinois. Speaking fluent French Uncle became his unit's scrounger striking deals with locals trading rations for fresh eggs, butter and milk.

I know. I have two of them.

To get a copy of Robert's, Dale would have to sign as next of kin, and Dale is pretty much out of it.

Under the circumstances, I wonder if my wife could sign as next of kin. I'll have to check into it.

I miss the old veterans. In 1984 I got some gas in town, and the guy at the counter was a WWII veteran I had met at an American Legion meeting. I looked up at the calendar, and it was April 16, so I asked him what he was up to 40 years ago. After giving me a long dumb look, he glanced at the calendar. Without looking back at me, he said his rifle company had been pulled out of the line after the Battle of the Bulge. On this date they were in France, loading trucks at a US depot. When a Captain came running by and said Germany surrendered, said half of his guys just dropped everything, and went off to get drunk. So he had a half a crew to load food in a bunch of trucks to take to the guys still in the field. That was his last day of the war.

I also have a Luger, 1942 BYF. Not a safe Queen but a shooter. I have shot it quite a bit with Sellier and Bellot ammo that I bought a lot of when it was $109.00 a thousand. I tried Winchester white box but I get a lot of stove pipes. No problems with the Sellier. I love shooting it.

This one has all the matching numbers. Even on the mag I think. It is a 1939. The barrel has almost no blueing left on it from holster wear. I think dad got it early in the war in France and carried it as his side arm throughout the rest of the war. Who knows how long the original owner carried it around. I remember back in the late 70s when I asked dad to show it to me that he said he might reblue it. I am glad he didn’t. I like it just how it is.