Tores Tuesday- Been there, done that, travelled across the ocean -twice! A captured German gas mask mailed to the United States.
Now this you don’t see every day. One can safely assume that many German WWI artifacts are vet bringbacks. However, their history is often lost, but, on this one the tag with the adress it was sent to is intact.
Now, this blue tag with a white cross and the number 1, with the adress on the rear, is intriguing. You can find stuff, helmets etc, with actual stamps on them and adress stuck on on a piece of paper. Here is only this tag. I was told long ago, that US soldiers go three such tags for mailing souvenirs home. I suppose that this is such a tag. However, I have no sources to back that up, so I hope someone here can confirm or refute that. I do not claim to know this, but would like to know.
Anyway, there is no question that this one was sent home to a US adress. Intriguingly, I got this mask from Australia. Did the soldier emigrate from the US to Australia? Was it later sold to an Australian? I will never know. But, it has crossed the oceans twice, well thrice if you count its journey by mail to Norway.
The mask is a size 3, and the filter is dated 1917. It is in good condition. Actually the mask is named too on a strap, but I am not able to read it, sadly.
The adress reads:
Mrs. Francis? Church Haddam, Connecticut
On a forum, a number of years back, Steve McGeorge was so kind as to do this splendid research on the man who sent this home.
There was only one Doughboy named Church from Haddam….. Charles H. Church service number 1667960, white, from Haddam Conn. Inducted into National Army at Deep River, Conn. age 25 and 8/12 years. Assigned to Co. C, 301st Field Signal Battalion. promoted to Pvt. 1cl. Dec 21 1917, promoted to Corporal June 1, 1918. Served in AEF July 11 1918 to May 27 1919. Honorably Discharged June 2 1919. Don’t know if Mrs. Church was his wife or his mother. 301st Field Signal Battalion was part of the 76th Division which was re-designated 3d Depot Division on arrival in France. 301st Field Signal Battalion remained intact and were employed as Corps Troops.
Items that carry personal history are the best, this man can be remembered in that way…