A Collector’s Dream Come True

Many collectors have this dream that kind of goes like this:

A little old lady asks them to empty out her attic and tells them they can keep anything they find and throw away the rest.

Lo and behold –they find a stash of priceless militaria!

Hasn’t happened to me yet.  But a friend did pass to me what to them was worthless old stuff stored in a Kanas barn for decades.  It was from a relative who served in the army in the Pacific in WWII.  Below are some pics.

Two Japanese weapons.  Left a Type 38 Rifle and, right, a Type 38 Carbine.

A Collection of Three Bayonets for the Rifles.

And most impressive.  A Type 98, Company Grade Officer’s Samurai Sword.

Everything was covered with dirt, dust, and lots of rust.  It took weeks to clean it all up with WD40, gun oil, steel wool and lots of elbow grease.  Much of the pieces, particularly leather items just couldn’t be salvaged.  But overall, I was very happy with the final look.  Below are before and after of the rust cleaning on the rifles.

Valkyrie Review

Saw the movie today and I’ll start by saying I am NOT a Tom Cruise fan. But….It was well made, authentic, and enjoyable. Well worth your movie $. A word of caution however, this movie is history, so I was inclined to love it.

Having said that, I also brought along  my teenage daughter.  She agreed its a quality production, well acted, and good story well told. Also had a German officer student with me. He found the movie very true to the history as taught in Germany and as honored in the German army. He enjoyed the movie immensley.

Four personal observations from me:

1. Overall very little action of the Saving Private Ryan variety. Not really expected so not a big deal.

2. Given that we all know how it ends, the director, acting, and screenplay manage to keep the tension high, the suspense active, and movie moving at a crisp pace.

3. No major short-coming in terms of accuracy of the story or the on-screen details. Uniforms, equipment, and locations are particularly well done. The opening scene in N. Africa was the only “battle” scene and was well done. The uniform details  were particularly impressive.

4. Alot of information is crammed into a short movie with no loss of the essentials. However, it would have been nice if they could have developed the Stauffenberg character more thoroughly. They made the attempt by introducing his family and the potential effects of his actions on them. However, they didn’t develop fully the moral dilemma of German officers choosing between loyalty to country, conscience, and the oath they took to Hitler.  They also underplayed (ignored?) the religious/moral aspect of Stauffenberg’s motiviation.

I would give it 4 stars out of 5.