A few fellow historians and I from The Duffle Bag and Associates, and The American Veterans Historical Museum put together a little display for Guardian Revival’s 10th Annual Veterans Appreciation Chow Down last month.
https://www.guardianrevival.org/calendar/2024-11-10-veterans-chow-down
If you are a Putnam County, NY veteran you are invited to attend. Please RSVP as per their web page.
Click here for last year’s museum display.
This Sunday the Duffle Bag Military Collectors Club will be having its monthly meeting and mini show at the Patterson Recreation Center, Patterson, NY. Hours are 10AM to 1PM. I’ll be giving a talk on military insignia collecting.
Save the date! The Duffle Bag Military Collectors Club is inviting the public to attend our meeting! Members will have tables set up with all types of militaria to sell. Don’t miss this opportunity to add that special piece to your collection. Public admission is $5. Club members are free, bring your badge. Join the club on the spot and enjoy the perks of membership!
Sunday August 18,2024 10AM-1PM
Patterson Recreation Center
65 Front Street Patterson NY
entrance at the left side of the building.
https://www.fdrlibrary.org/events-calendar
Memorial Day Weekend Event:
World War II Military Displays
Time: 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Location: FDR Library Great LawnOn Saturday, May 25 and Sunday, May 26, 2024, in honor of Memorial Day Weekend, the Great Lawn in front of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum will take on the appearance of a World War II encampment with WWII Military Displays.
Period military vehicles of all sizes and soldiers in battle dress will be on hand to share their love of World War II history. Free public event.
The Duffle Bag and Associates, along with the American Veterans Historical Museum and a host of other living historians, are doing Memorial day again at FDR, sponsored by the library. I’ll be there, weather permitting, with a small display.
Normally I do a Cold War display at FDR, despite it being predominantly a World War II themed event. There are a few of us who do a post-1945 displays there. This year however marks the 80th Anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, France, and my wife and younger daughter are planning on cosplaying Rosie the Riveter (their first time going in costume for this event), so I figured it would be a good idea to have a complementary costume. I don’t think, however, that I’ll be doing an ETO impression.
Despite the amount of media play that D-Day receives, there were also other pivotal events that happened elsewhere in June, 1944. Allied forces had captured Rome in the Mediterranean Theater on June 4th. June 5th was the first B-29 bombing mission, Operation Matterhorn, in the CBI theater. June was also the beginning of Operation Forager in the Pacific Theater.
Locally speaking, many National Guard and Reserve units in this area served in the Pacific or CBI Theaters. The 77th Infantry Division (USAR), 43rd Infantry Division (CTARNG et al), 27th Infantry Division (NYARNG), 118th Observation (now Airlift) Squadron (CTANG), and 333rd (now 131st) Fighter Squadron (MAANG) all served in the Pacific or CBI Theaters. Honorable mention goes to the 98th Infantry Division (USAR) that was slated for the cancelled Operation Olympic, and served occupation duty in Japan after the war.
I’m sad to say that my friends at The Duffle Bag have decided to close down the retail store front at the end of the month for the time being, and go exclusively with online and show sales. They also however decided to expand to monthly shows based around a military collectors club, similar to the Bay State Militaria Collectors.
I’ll give a short presentation at the show tomorrow on military radio receivers for living history displays. For more information see https://www.facebook.com/thedufflebag.
Memorial Day is next weekend, and I’ll be displaying some Cold War communications equipment at the FDR Home and Library in Hyde Park, NY sponsored by my friends and fellow historians with The Duffle Bag & Associates. I’ve done this event since I moved back East, save for when it was cancelled due to COVID.
I previously set up static displays. This year will be different as I’ll have a military shortwave receiver listening to broadcasts, and I’ll be in on the air. I’ll have a Part 15 FM broadcast station, “WFDR,” on 99.5 MHz., and a 6 Meter Amateur Radio station on 51.0 MHz. FM with my PRC-25. Hopefully the band will be open. A couple of my fellow ham operators and historians will be on HF. Callsigns and frequencies will be posted on my Facebook feed.
If you’re within driving distance of FDR come visit. My fellow historians do an excellent job of putting this event together. We’re going to have the Big Band Sound Jazz Orchestra playing on Sunday, and other family events over the course of the weekend.
Spending part of the day finishing my packing for my friends’ militaria show next weekend. I’ve got an excess of stuff, so I’ll have my usual corner table next to the bleachers.
So far I’ve got three Sterlites full of stuff. I’ll have some French & Indian and Revolutionary War books, military TMs, military electronics, and other items Here’s a sneak peak:
Militaria, & Knife Collector’s Show
https://www.thedufflebaginc.com/militaria-show
SHOW HOURS 9AM-3PM
Admission: $7.00 at the door.
(Children under 12 admitted free with paid adult).
Join the Duffle Bag Saturday, APRIL 22, for its annual Militaria, & Knife Collector’s Show at the Patterson Recreation Center.
Children under 12 admitted FREE with paid adult, so bring the entire family for a good old fashioned militaria show. Come and find vendors covering a broad range of vintage militaria for sale. Choose from military surplus, insignia, vintage clothing, custom knives, edged weapons, and firearm accessories.
Bring your military treasures and have Brian Benedict of the Duffle Bag appraise them for you.
The Patterson Recreation Center is a beautiful facility located in the rustic town of Patterson NY. FREE PARKING adjacent to the building in the well lit Metro-North
Railroad parking lot. The Patterson Recreation Center is one block from the Patterson Metro-North Railroad station. An easy drive from Interstates 84 and 684.
I missed the past two years for Memorial Day at FDR because of COVID. Things settled down enough this year that the National Archives and the National Park Service opened it up for my associates and I this year. This time around I planned for an even bigger display than in 2019.
A line of rain and thunderstorms came through Saturday, making that day a wash (no pun intended) for the most part. Sunday was much better. I didn’t make it Saturday because of the weather, but got there early Sunday morning and set my display up.
This year I displayed three tables of radio communications and electronics test equipment covering a time span from World War II to the Cold War eras. I also set up a Part 15 FM radio station, “WFDR,” on 99.5 MHz. that played some 1940s era music for a short while.
In this picture there is a Cold War era Soviet R-105m VHF transceiver, a PRC-25, PRC-75, PRC-74, WW2 Navy/Marine Corps TBY, WW2 R-156 sonobouy receiver, and WW2 BC-1000/SCR-300.
This picture shows an early WW2 Amateur Radio station consisting of a Hallicrafters SX-25 (which did see military use during WW2) and a Utah Junior HF CW transmitter, along with a reproduction foxhole radio using an old “blue blade” safety razor blade. Unfortunately I didn’t have the space to set up a decent antenna to run the foxhole radio. Two of next years’s goals include getting reception for the foxhole radio and getting a vintage Amateur Radio station on the air.
The bottom right shows a small collection of electronic test equipment. We have a radar IFF test set, oscilliscope, VOM meter, and RF SWR/power meter.
Twice a year (under normal circumstances), my friends Brian and Jean, who own my favorite Army/Navy store, host a militaria show down in Patterson, NY. It’s real easy to get there. You can take the MTA Metro-North Harlem Line to Patterson and walk the quarter mile down to the Rec Center. You can also take I-84 to Rt. 311 into Patterson, getting off at what once was Exit 18 and is now Exit 61, or take Rt. 22 to Rt. 311 into Patterson Village proper. At any rate, the What3Words for the entrance to the Rec Center are ///muddle.indefinite.encroach. They haven’t had a show since COVID started, so it’s been almost two years. Everyone is champing at the bit, and it’s going to be a good show.
James Burrowes OAM
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