World War I Artifacts
Helmet, Uniform, Gas Mask, Dog Tag & German Button
Home | Letters | Artifacts | Photographs | Documents
Time-Line | If You Have Information | Contact Me
It's still hard for me to believe that my grandfather fought in World War I. It seems a war too far away in time for me to have a direct connection with one of its participants. There is strange feeling that washes over me when I look at his helmet and contemplate that it is what he wore in the trenches and on the battlefield, what may have saved his life and insured my own. All of us have missed nonexistence by inches, or seconds or strange circumstances in the history that has preceded us. Life, it seems to me, is a great gift---and yet---those who faced atrocious circumstances daily, those who died in concentration camps before their lives had a chance to bloom, those who lived under tyrants--I wonder---what would they consider life to be?
All artifacts are presented here as thumbnails which you may click on to see larger images if you desire.
My grandfather was over six feet tall.
Detail from front of uniform.
Uniform detail from left shoulder.
Helmet
Binoculars
Gas Mask
Dog Tag
My grandfather said he saw a German pilot fall from his plane after it had been hit. He ran over to the body and took this button from the uniform. The letter where he mentions this is here.
This is the back of the button taken from the dead German pilot.
The words are: "extra fein"