I want to give you props for how well behaved your 2 kids are. No ones jumping around, no ones yelling or crying about the stuff they want to see. Just Really well Behaved kids!! 👌😇
Its nice to see this, i am from the netherlands and my grandfather helped jews to safe houses and he told me alot of storys about the canadian and american soldiers who saved our country , near my house there is a canadian soldier cementery and we light candles there every year to thank our hero's
I have my Father's Officers trunk. He was a Lt. in the Royal Netherlands Brigade. He was in both WW1 and WW2. Came to Canada in 1927. War broke out and he rejoined at Stratford Ont. Found many items as he was ARP and Civil Defense Instructor. Last posting was Breda(Bomb Disposal and Salvage) May 1946. Manuals, dealing w/bomb damage , types of bombs, incendiaries, chemical too. Thanks your trunk is a nice history lesson too.
As a military historian, I can tell you that those documents in that kind of condition are as rare as hen's teeth! For me, as a WWII researcher, these things are invaluable to have for reference, unfortunately, they are unlikely to have a great deal of intrinsic value, except for the original artwork. I hope that you'll be able to make a profit, but if not, please consider donating them to your national archive. This is truly a historical treasure that makes historians like me salivate... (sorry about the mental image that might invoke... lol)
I was thinking the whole time.... I Wish They Would Donate All Of It To The Canadian Government or Canadian Hystory Center. Sometimes money isn't everything.
I came by these videos by accident, been watching hours and hours of them, think I'm hooked lol , love seeing the lives of people that probably have now passed on. very interesting.
There are numerous War Museums and Exhibits throughout Europe that are eager for war memorabilia from Canada. I inherited numerous things from WWII , kept the things that belonged to relatives but wanted to find a forever home for the things related to the war, but not my family. There was a Museum in Norway who offered a substantial sum for what little I had. Not too long after they received the items they provided pictures of how they had preserved the items and put them on display and showed how eager people were to see the new exhibit that I provided items for. It was important to me to find them a home where they could be shared with the world and not end up in the landfill one day after I die.
I don't give a damn how many museum walk this in their collection if they're not talking about some numbers to fill up my bank account the hell with them I don't want to be like that dumbass farmer in Minnesota that gave away the world's largest Mastodon elephant the school he gave it away to the museum but he kept the elephant tusks which was about the size of a damn Greyhound bus this is one reason why some people in this world don't need to be boring you don't give the government at damn thing make them pay for it it's all about money and money is all God on this world money get things done
@@charlesneely This was a wonderful video to watch. History happened and should be remembered. I found it very rewarding to know that the items will be preserved. I wish I had not chosen to read the comments because yours has tainted the good feeling this video gave me. You're a bitter old man who ought to keep your negative feelings to yourself.
charles neely stuff like this needs to go to museums. Because out in the real world this stuff will get destroyed. Because it will not be handled the way it needs to be handled. I agree it shouldn’t always be free but not outrageous amounts of money for history. But I’m sure he would be compensated some money for this stuff. This stuff should be displayed in a museum for everyone to view.
I appreciate the respect you and your family exhibited while you sifted through the contents of this old trunk. Even your children were reserved and seemed to be in awe, as well as curious, about the history that lay before them. Well done.
This was a piece of history unravelling, this was, at the time, the worthless stuff you put away as keepsakes and never look at again, wither because you do not need to see it to remember, you do not want to remember or you completely forgot. Then someone comes around and this story is played back. This collection will likely not stay together, and the story lost forever. But it is just one of thousands of stories of surviving soldiers. We know this story, but only in the abstract. This had value in that it was connected to one person, it could have been put together in a museum to showcase his career.
57thorns, the story isn't lost forever. It is now documented (in abstract) and preserved for a really long time. And it's being told to countless viewers. While the documents won't stay together, more people are hearing this story than ever would have if the trunk hadn't been sold to a youtuber.
@@57thorns Your comment has me smh. How could you say something like that? You sound like a negative ned. Maybe you shouldn't be watching people like Alex, you just ground him into the dirt.
Look up Dakota Meyer who is a Medal of Honor recipient and an ex Marine..he's into parachuting and skydiving. I think it's crazy, but some people love it. I'm not that brave.
I love that you opened that trunk together as a family. That is such an awesome adventure ,especially for your children to learn about history in a tangible way. Times like this will be special memories for your children when they become adults.
I appreciate that you showed respect while you went through these items. It was especially nice you showed a good example to respect the people who fought to preserve freedom in the world in their day in front of the children. Thank you sir.
I agree with Kevin. You don’t go through thinking I’ll get 100 bucks here, 100 bucks there. You are holding history, that is priceless. Keep everything together and search for the family members or give it to a museum. Great find though. Do the right thing and don’t separate this treasure.
@@martin096 But the family did not want the trunk or contents. They sold it to him out of their home. In the Show More area which may have been updated since the video was posted, he said they were dealing with a large estate and did not want it. They sold it to him because he does have a business selling things on. If that is your business you DO go through pricing stuff. He did give some to a local museum too. but individual collectors like to have things for themselves. He's got video about buying a house and contents and land and finding money here and there, which, since he bought house and contents, was his to keep. And if you give it back to family members, the public often never gets a look at it when they would appreciate the history or seeing books or maps that were common years ago but your family or my family threw away.
Alex BOUGHT it from the son or grandson for $ 1'000.-. The family member shouldn't have sold it as HIS relative. Alex makes his living from selling it on. The family member knew that.
We found all sorts of interesting items in my grandfather's trunk.He landed at Normandy fought through Berlin.His unit was one of the first to find the camps.He never spoke of the war,had nightmares till he passed.
Have also family members from 2ndWW who never talk and scream horrible in their sleep. But also know Germans who were in Russian Camps for years. Those boys had to serve their country at age 18 or got shot. Further friends who served in Vietnam, in Kosovo 1996-1999 former Yugoslavia and extremely gruesome (Croatians, Albanians, Macedonians, Serbs, Romans etc.), in Lybia, Afghanistan wherever as I moved a lot in my life. "A country can't WIN a war or battle, it will only have the smaller loss."
Salute to grandpa! That battle in normandy beaches was one of the bloodiest and he was lucky to made it to the seawall. Salute to all the vets around the world!
Many of the wonderful Canadian soldiers who helped liberate the camps could not bring themselves to speak about what they saw. I interviewed a veteran who said he still had nightmares, but just could not describe what he witnessed out loud. The trauma, and sorrow too, I think, left them tongue tied.
Hi Alex, What a find!! I got my Dad's Navy trunk. It had his uniform in it! He was so thin! The thing I found sad in this trunk was the "homemade" Christmas bell, and the tiny ornaments. Sad Christmas this man had away from his family.😔 At this time of year, we ALL need to remember our Service Men and Women, away from their families, helping to keep us free. Thanks, and Blessings on you, and your sweet family.🍁🍊 The Corpse Bride
My grandfather said that you would have to be of Higher up Rank to need those rule books A local museum would LOVE to have the contents of your trunk...
My dad visited your store today and he brought back for me the item you pull out at 3:44. I live just a ferry ride away from Vancouver so this is pretty awesome!
I'd be sleeping in the doghouse if my wife knew I sprung a grand on that lot, mind you, it's a great bit of WWII knowledge and the kids had a great time. Memories with the ones you love are priceless. Great video. I've been hooked since subbing, I still have a few years to watch the rest. Thanks ever so much! The Wallace family
What a fun thing to do! Spending time with your family while discovering such interesting things together, well, it's priceless. This is a history lesson none of you will ever forget.
Richard Titmuss, who wrote the fewer children pamphlet, was a very well known and significant economist that shaped the UK social system. Depending on how many of those were printed, an academic collector might pay a pretty decent price for it. I know I would if the shipping didn’t cost me half my salary lol
it is my opinion, as a veteran of many years, that an officer would have tons of reference books and regulations for commanding. I was familiar and required to read regulations, technical manuals and field guides my entire career and they all focused on my field of expertise. But as an officer, leading a multitude of separate specialties he would have used these to perform troop evaluations and even corrective action for training issues.
I am a retired military guy and history buff here in the US. I love our history (US, Canada, UK etc...) good and bad. Thank you for posting this. I enjoyed this video very much. I think you got more than your moneys worth with those sketches. But that's me.
I would find a military museum to give to for their archives. That would be the best thing to do next to trying to find any relatives that are still around.
I agree and "Not Putting all Eggs in 1 Basket" it'd be wise to split the lot between 2+ museums, each Exhibit will be fascinating but it'll safeguard against total loss eg. by Fire/Flood. The Mitchell Ref Library, Glasgow suffered a fire & The School of Art's been set on fire twice in 5yrs (One theory; A man whose leg was broken? during a fall made a Public Liability Insurance Claim; Someone "in Authority" thought they'd tell him to F** off?, so he torched the place, twice. The fires were "Revenge-Justice". An American Psychic I know well wrote of the 2nd fire 48hrs before it happened, quoting a name he's extremely unlikely to have known; Gray. Muriel Gray is the Head of the School Board) There's so much material here it can easily be split up; If Ive correctly identified the Cartoonist case owner he's onto a winner with the Early Original Wartime Artwork!
Yes check with a museum , what amazing find , prayers you receive much more than what you paid Alex.... such a kind man you are .... bless you and family
My thoughts on the Art information is that during the War the Nazis confiscated many valuable Art as they looted during the War. This could be part of the reason there are so much art information in the trunk. He could have been part of a group trying to rescue stolen Art.
In 1962 my family lived on Vancouver Island. My mom & her friend inherited a very old cottage that had been owned by a European family. As they started to clean out the house - the husband & wife (owners) appeared to be hoarders. Mom & her friend started sifting through all of the "treasures" - I spent many a day (as a child) watching in curiosity, as there were many comments & excitement as my mom seemed to find "priceless" artifacts. The European couple were in fact part of the "underground" during WWII - they lived in Holland and helped with getting the Jewish people out of Germany, this was determined by a diary mom found, written in German, later translated by a museum curator in Victoria BC. The old couple had done an excellent job of hiding & storing many valuable pieces of Art and gold coins, pewter & silver. In some old tins found under the kitchen sink there were several cans of "lard" - hidden in the tins & covered my the stinky old lard were valuable pieces of jewelry and gold coins. The most valuable (historic) find was an original Rembrandt drawing - it was wrapped in oil cloth covered by old linens. Everything, except the Rembrandt, were sent to a museum in Victoria BC - the museum made contact with other Canadian museums and many of the pieces found their places in museums across Canada. The Rembrandt was sent to the Royal London Museum in England for verification of authenticity. Mom received a letter in 1963 advising, in fact, the Rembrandt was real. Mom & her friend donated the art to the London Museum. However, this experience for me - set the stage for a life long pursuit for historic memorabilia.
Hydrzx he was Canadian so he most likely fought in Europe as a member of the commonwealth armies. The war with Japan was more of an American front with allied support
I have an old trunk that has a lot of 1929 100 dollar bills in the upper section of the paper/leather combo lining. They are stacked in four rows, i carefully pealed enough to figure out what the thickness that doesn't match the rest of the walls is. Not going to remove them.
You seem like a model parent man for sure, and it would be crazy to be a father that records most of his weekly work , I think its a perfect thing for children to educate themselves on what there parents/parent does through out there work life. Nothing makes it more perfect than being able to watch your parents vlog on youtube to learn about what they do for their career. Amazing!!!
what an awesome little microcosm of one mans experience of ww2. while no individual item i saw is a goldmine the value is definitely in the grouping. collectors really love groupings. you should really keep it as a group. individually each little bit of ephemera becomes just another anonymous little bit, of which, frankly, there are many. this was a war and this information needed to be disseminated to armed forces of millions. however as a group all known to have belonged to one single man. each little bit becomes a bit of a mosaic telling this one mans story. and in some ways, that is priceless.
The question is: This story has been told thousands of times. Very few of the items, besides the invitation and the drawings, were really personal. Putting together a collection like this from random sources can tell the same unpersonal story. I agree, this should have great value for the family, and it might be interesting for a museum that does not have a display like this. But there is also a commercial value, and without any more provinence than is shown, the whole might well be worth less than the parts.
What a wonderful collection I hope you read it all thoroughly such a shame the family weren’t interested in keeping this LEST WE FORGET! Love from an ANZAC descendant xxx
This made the pack rat in me happy. My husband retired from US service a year ago. We still have most of his training from over the years. Now I have cause to keep them all. Maybe in 50 years someone will want them for a collection of some sort. There may or may not be manuals on nuclear weapons protection.
The trunk was kept in a dry place. No mold or humidity. That kept the paper and colors in pristine condition. That is something an appreciative family member should have in their archive.
The drawings reminded me of the cartoon character, Sad Sack. My dad had a hard back book of Sad Sack, a WW2 Army soldier. Thank you for the tour of your trunk, it was interesting.
My dad had the same footlocker. He was US Navy. I found so many papers, magazines, orders, medals and letters. Wonderful to see pictures of my dad as a young man. If your life is worth living, then it is worth recording. So happy you found this and are ensuring proper respect is given to this officer.
Oh my goodness. Id love to have opened that! Totally worth ever penny... I thought 2 things watching... One was.. Oh look at all the paper.. They would be great in junk journals (that I make), and then I thought... Man the history!
I was born in 1941 and my father was in Germany fighting for us. I wish I would have listened to more of his war stories since I am older, I want to know more. I saw the date of May, 1945 on one of the documents you found. I was born in June so I was just going to turn 4. I remember my Grandmother giving all we cousins pans and spoons and loading we all in Grandpa's car. He took us down to the big circle around the downtown area and we went around an around banging on our pots. Vivid memory. TFS.
@@tallthinkev I am sorry I guess I was confused about the dates. Dad didn't join the war until America Joined the War. He was drafted so I think the date was later. Not a POW. I must have been having a senior moment. LOL Sorry!
OK, get what you mean now. Both my grandfathers had reserved occupations, however four of my great uncles were in, three were called up and the oldest joined up in 1938, so did the whole 6 (yes 6!) years.
I have sold a lot of US Military Ephemera, but I have never struck a find this great. You have definitely made your money back, and then some. Good find and good decision to buy.
He obviously WAS appreciating the history. Of course he's got the bottom line in his mind as he's going through stuff, he IS a businessman. He isn't a historian or museum curator, he is in the business of selling stuff. He appreciates the cool history factor but at the end of the day, he can't keep finding interesting things and sharing them with us if he doesn't find enough saleable stuff to keep the cycle going. I think he does a great job of balancing the monetary aspect with appreciating the historical aspects of what he finds and buys.
A video with Dave. So happy to see him. Sympathies Melissa and you all . So sorry Dave was one of our very early casualties of this pandemic. You are an loving, inspiring family. Please everyone get a pulse oximeter so you can monitor your oxygen levels at home if you get covid 19.
My mother had that drawing style. It was a scribbling sketching type of drawing with distinctive features like the nose, hair, ears, etc. She was a teenager in 1945. Ty for sharing this, it reminded me of my mother and my father aswell. They are both gone now. The Greatest Generation. Whether from the US, Canada, or anyone else who fought the Nazi’s in WW2.
I love what you do. Thank you so much for being so gentle about the subject. Just amazing. ....if you found any reference to Geehan's, I would be so grateful. Hugs
Wow just amazing to look through a piece of history! You and your family were also very respectful when you went through everything and that's amazing in it self! And honestly my thoughts based on what was in the trunk was that this person was a very knowledgeable person who like to learn and also collect things that were apart of his journey, and based on the art he had a great humor lol.
So parachuting has its ups and downs does it? Alex. Alex. Alex. Thank you for thinking of us to let us come along on this adventure with you. You provided for us a good heart race of anticipation. Fantastic video!!!
@@CuriosityIncorporated The fact I do Stand Up Comedy may have something to do with the comment I wanna make about you opening up a 70 year old box, but, this is a family channel, so.......I'll just shut up cause I think you know where it'll go Alex???
this was great to watch. when my grandparents passed away, we went through the old farm house, same one my dad grew up in, and found many things from my grandpa's time in the war. in fact, he wrote an entire book about it, from becoming part of the national guard back in ND, to his role in the invasion of normandy, all the way until the war was won. my dad is working on getting it publishable.
Wow what an interesting treasure chest. Hey dont be disappointed that there wasnt gold or money or guns. The experience itself, having your family there and opening it together, that was worth the $1,000. A lot of learning for the children. I can just picture them in the future taking over the antique store and continuing in their fathers legacy. Enjoy precious family time.
As a retired military man I found the items in the trunk very interesting. The war time art is similar to some postcards I have that came from my dad, a corporal in the US Army in WWII. I also have a V mail letter. You wrote a letter while overseas, it was then photographed and sent to the recipient in the states. You almost have to have a magnifying glass read the missive as it is only about 3" by 5". Considerably smaller than the original letter.
V-Mail with cartoons are a hot item..I have about 30 of them with way better hot girl joke cartoons and the u.s. g.i was stationed in austraila and even had some great kangaroo cartoons...
It's nice to see you being respectful of the items you are finding. All those books and documents look to be in very good shape. I would think military memorabilia collectors and/or museums would be quite interested in this find.
My Father was in World War Two and I have all of the stuff he had flags papers stars and stripes etc. Always interesting to go through that stuff. Dad started out as a Private and ended up as a Sgt. in the Combat engineers blowing bridges before the German's could get across. He spent his whole time in the European theater. We lost dad to lung cancer back in 2003 and even had a Military Honor guard at his funeral. Thanks for going through the trunk on video it was great.
What a tremendous treasure trove of World War II Canadian military issued information. I'd make a few calls and would bet there is a place for this material, especially in the condition this material appears to be.
I just kept being reminded of Geraldo Rivera and the Al Capone vault on this one. With that being said, the contribution of history enclosed in this time capsule is priceless!
This makes me sad to watch-why would so one sell a priceless family heirloom -and without looking inside. Once your family history is gone it is gone for good. Someone else In the family might have cherished those items. I just don't understand this. Why doesn't personal history mean anything to anyone.
Sadly to many of current generation are so self absorbed, have no interested in anyone else but their achievements and life. I know lots my age that have no interested in ancestry research and means nothing to them as it's past.
Neat trunk! It reminds me of what I found in two old wooden end tables at a auction..they both were loaded with ww11 metals and badges , purple hearts lots of really old military stuff, I only paid 20 dollars for both tables some years ago
This was really exciting, thanks so much for sharing! I have family that fought in the war and many old photos. I have recently been dividing them up between family members since I tended to have possession of so many from my mother's family. Love looking to them.
I wonder if G. R. WILLIAMS IS Garth Williams. He is a famous illustrator. For the English army. Then Later illustrated children's books. His work is very similar.
Hi there, my name is Judith, Canadian born but have been in the UK since a child and have been happily married to a Brit for many, many years. I have not commented before as I have only just found your TH-cam channel.. I have seen many of your videos now and have really enjoyed the content. You are all so real in the broadcasting that I almost feel I know you! I feel compelled to comment now because of the contents of this particular trunk. You have handled the contents with great respect. You see I would not be here except for WW2. My father was a Canadian soldier from 1938 to 1945. He was posted to the UK in 1939 and was stationed in Wales soon after arriving. Not long after that he met my mother, a pretty Welsh Girl just 22 years of age. He used to say how difficult it was to Court her as she was always surrounded by her three brothers, one in the navy, one in the Air Force and one a sapper in the army. Despite their attempts to keep him at bay he finally won through, and won my mother. My father was a small arms instructor but also an engineer. You found detail regarding small fire arms in trunk I believe. My father served in France, Belgium and Germany and was away from my mother for over a year, completely out of touch with each other. Once the beachhead was secured in France in June my father went over on DDay plus three. He spent much of his time in France and Germany either repairing infrastructure e.g. railways, bridges and the like and even sometimes destroying infrastructure depending on which way the allies were going. He had many amusing stories to tell but would not be drawn on the more harrowing aspects of the war he witnessed. I think many military men behave the same way when they returned home. After the war they returned together to Canada, they both travelled for free as she was deemed to be a war bride. . My fathers family are from Sudbury Ontario so that is where they settled first , and where I was born, but eventually lived in Toronto where, as an engineer my father was commissioned to work on the extension of the subway system to a suburb named Scarborough. I am sorry to have taken so much time getting to why this particular find of yours has touched me so much. Please keep up the many good works you have and done and will do going forward try not to get too busy to have lots of fun along the way. Many best wishes to you, Melissa and the rest of your loving family. Regards. Judith
My Grandfather was in WWII (he was born in Canada, but was a US citizen - I don't know the story about that) and died on Christmas Day 1944. My Mom was only 4 months old when he passed. Anyway, this was an exciting video to watch! Thanks for sharing it!
Absolutely amazing! I am so happy you waited to unveil the contents, I wonder if you can find some local historians and let them in on the treasure trove. I think there are a lot of people with interest in history who would be over the moon to get their hands on such rare "unpublished" manuals, especially in the condition they're in!
To me this is so very interesting. I love collecting this kind of things. My father fought for Germany in WW1 and Yes I mean WW1. He was 60 when I was born, just don't ask. He immigrated to the USA to perform in Vaudeville. I so very much, mostly photos of the time period. So when I see your new little collection I Think it is really cool. do your research on this stuff. Thanks for sharing it.
That’s a wonderful find. I was a little child living in Virginia in the middle of three military bases. I remember the black out at night. It was a very strange time. I have always been very interested in the war. I had to uncles in the army. One was in the tank division called he’ll on wheels. The other piloted a landing craft on the beaches. Our family was grateful they both came home safely. Hell on wheels!
Wow, that is so awesome. My Dad served in the 2nd World War, he was stationed in North Africa fighting against Field Marshall Rommel. Loved your video..
My Dad was in World War II, Navy USA Aircorp, which is now the Airforce. He had a lot of similar stuff, but was only a Machinists Mate 2nd Class. Never flew, but worked on Airplanes and maintenance. He actually never was assigned to any ship. He had terrible problems with Seasickness, so they kept him grounded.
The bell , if it wasn’t covered with aluminum foil, is a child’s toy. They used to come on a little type of strap, with about 4 on it. You would hang them on the rail of the baby bed for the baby to play with. It was a pretty good developmental toy. First the baby would just hit at it to hear it ring, then by the time they could sit up, they could actually hold it and ring it. They came in pastel colors. I don’t remember them past the early 60’s. Such interesting info in there. I would think that a military museum would LOVE to have those items. Good find...hope you get your money back and then some. 😊👍🏻
There is value in the trunk itself with the top tray--most trunks this piece is missing. Dolls are not creepy and I belong to a doll club and we are very worried about the attitude being taught to young girls about dolls. It is a part of our history just as much as boy's toys and the need to preserve them is important. Thank you.
it's a kewpie doll isn't it? they used to be prizes in Sideshows and were stuck on a stick .He was probably with a date somewhere and won it for her ,throwing balls at coconuts or something...
I think the creepy factor of all dolls generally comes from the condition, and the fact is the human form. We have several old dolls we have given Abigail in good shape and she enjoys them
@@CuriosityIncorporated I know you are an excellent parent-just trying to let people know that they are something to cherish like other toys from the past.
Very appropriate timing being that remembrance day is November 11. My dad was one of those young men who signed up at 18 and spent till he was 24 in the fields of France. There is a department in the federal government which manages military memorabilia. They may be interested in some of the trunk contents.
Great snap shot of the past ! The sad part is the men and women that fought in ww2 are slowly disappearing and our children have to rely on some cheesy war movie for facts
Oh yes it was that way for me for the first world war when I was in school we had to watch black adder goes forth just to see the ending to see a good representation of the soldiers going over the top. My grandparents were to young to serve in the second world war so the memories they have shared are of life living during the bombings of Manchester and running to the Anderson shelters seeing the bombers fly over
try to keep the books together as sets. And to checkout the WW2 veterans groups for information. I would also check out whether or not he was discharged as an commissioned officer. He may have kept some things to himself in the trunk because of the nature of the work he did.
I have a similar collection of artifacts that belonged to my father-in-law from WWI. Very interesting to explore. I have his 1918 diary in which he comments about the day he was injured, and the armistice on November 11, 1918. We found numerous trinkets such as eyeglasses, a razor and spare blades, a Red Cross first aid kit. One of my favorite items was an envelope that commented on the source of the blood stain on it, as the result of his sustained injury. We are working on the collection now to get it into some type of logical order. Handling the items takes my breath away every time!
This was really interesting. My Grandfather on my Father's side fought in WWI (He had children much later in life and passed when my Father was 18). My Grandfather on my Mother"s side fought in WWII and seeing this really brought a tears to my eyes b/c my Grandfather is still alive and I'm not vary close to him, so to see this was really interesting and touching. I'm glad that the officer mentioned most likely had a good homecoming, my Grandfather however did not, he went Home to find His Family gone and moved to a new house. They never wrote Him to let Him know so he had to do some digging to even find his family after coming home from War... Thank you for sharing a thread of that gentleman's story and a part of history with Us. Subbed to your channel!
The fact that this person was a Captain and had his own set of the King's Regulations, plus the admin paperwork in the folder, suggests he was a divisional officer, probably with home defence forces. If he was with home defence it would suggest they were over the age to see front-line service and may have been a career soldier or someone commissioned to the army for home service because they had specific talents or experience that would be useful to the military. I would imagine a full set of King's Regulations like those from 1939 in good, original condition would be worth quite a decent amount of money as they certainly would not have been issued to enlisted men, and probably not all officers, as they would have got a heavily abridged version in the form of soft cover book/lets which are fairly common. To have a full set like that would suggest this person had responsibilities for military discipline and applying appropriate punishments for breaches of conduct so he probably wasn't just flying a desk during the war. From the nature of the books found in the lower level of the trunk I would take a guess that they were probably in military stores with a specialism as an armourer...
The king's regulations are to be adhered to by all ranks. We still have queens regulations now but it's online in electronic form. You don't have to know everything in there but if you're unsure on how certain practices are supposed to be or even how to dress in uniform properly etc you refer to the regulations. Love from England, great video
Looks like he was as supply officer, lots of those. The books of regulations were for everyone, you had to get familiar with them, they ask you questions in boot camp/OCS, I know all about it! You have to memorize the general orders etc.. or whatever the Canucks call them. The enemy would want to know what was above him but he was just getting what his guys needed.
This is the third video of yours that I have happened upon [yup, I subscribed during the 2nd one ]. I learn so much from your explorations, about Canadian life and about life in general. This find, from the 40's is so interesting. My Uncle served in the US Army the same time as mentioned in this episode. And he was an aartist for the Army, too. There is so much to learn and to keep as knowledge. Thanks for sharing!
I want to give you props for how well behaved your 2 kids are. No ones jumping around, no ones yelling or crying about the stuff they want to see. Just Really well Behaved kids!! 👌😇
so quiet and well behaved there's actually three of them
Yes, I totally agree with that. Sadly its rare to find today.
@@dong6839 😂
Are you profiling kids I'm joking but still rude to ask of you
N mom I'll pl see of
Its nice to see this, i am from the netherlands and my grandfather helped jews to safe houses and he told me alot of storys about the canadian and american soldiers who saved our country , near my house there is a canadian soldier cementery and we light candles there every year to thank our hero's
Kibo X Thank you so very much for sharing and your kind words.
Regards
Lovely to have you comment Kobo X...and lovely to hear how your family and country are so respectful still.
I have my Father's Officers trunk. He was a Lt. in the Royal Netherlands Brigade. He was in both WW1 and WW2. Came to Canada in 1927. War broke out and he rejoined at Stratford Ont. Found many items as he was ARP and Civil Defense Instructor. Last posting was Breda(Bomb Disposal and Salvage) May 1946. Manuals, dealing w/bomb damage , types of bombs, incendiaries, chemical too. Thanks your trunk is a nice history lesson too.
Kibo X v=
Kayinfso Here )’goth
As a military historian, I can tell you that those documents in that kind of condition are as rare as hen's teeth! For me, as a WWII researcher, these things are invaluable to have for reference, unfortunately, they are unlikely to have a great deal of intrinsic value, except for the original artwork. I hope that you'll be able to make a profit, but if not, please consider donating them to your national archive. This is truly a historical treasure that makes historians like me salivate... (sorry about the mental image that might invoke... lol)
I wish I had some of those lol
Well said! As part of history, they are priceless....
I was thinking the whole time.... I Wish They Would Donate All Of It To The Canadian Government or Canadian Hystory Center. Sometimes money isn't everything.
My eyes practically fell out of my head I was so excited by some of these things!
I came by these videos by accident, been watching hours and hours of them, think I'm hooked lol , love seeing the lives of people that probably have now passed on. very interesting.
Likewise, top presenter - it's treasure hunting by proxy!
Betty Williams same here!
Same. Not sure why they appered but i love them.
same
someday someone will read this comment and think the same thing about us
There are numerous War Museums and Exhibits throughout Europe that are eager for war memorabilia from Canada. I inherited numerous things from WWII , kept the things that belonged to relatives but wanted to find a forever home for the things related to the war, but not my family. There was a Museum in Norway who offered a substantial sum for what little I had. Not too long after they received the items they provided pictures of how they had preserved the items and put them on display and showed how eager people were to see the new exhibit that I provided items for. It was important to me to find them a home where they could be shared with the world and not end up in the landfill one day after I die.
I don't give a damn how many museum walk this in their collection if they're not talking about some numbers to fill up my bank account the hell with them I don't want to be like that dumbass farmer in Minnesota that gave away the world's largest Mastodon elephant the school he gave it away to the museum but he kept the elephant tusks which was about the size of a damn Greyhound bus this is one reason why some people in this world don't need to be boring you don't give the government at damn thing make them pay for it it's all about money and money is all God on this world money get things done
@@charlesneely Uhm... you are aware that museums are not own by the government right? Just by history enthusiasts.
@@charlesneely This was a wonderful video to watch. History happened and should be remembered. I found it very rewarding to know that the items will be preserved. I wish I had not chosen to read the comments because yours has tainted the good feeling this video gave me. You're a bitter old man who ought to keep your negative feelings to yourself.
thats a good idea alot more people can enjoy them
charles neely stuff like this needs to go to museums.
Because out in the real world this stuff will get destroyed.
Because it will not be handled the way it needs to be handled.
I agree it shouldn’t always be free but not outrageous amounts of money for history.
But I’m sure he would be compensated some money for this stuff.
This stuff should be displayed in a museum for everyone to view.
I appreciate the respect you and your family exhibited while you sifted through the contents of this old trunk. Even your children were reserved and seemed to be in awe, as well as curious, about the history that lay before them. Well done.
This was a piece of history unravelling, this was, at the time, the worthless stuff you put away as keepsakes and never look at again, wither because you do not need to see it to remember, you do not want to remember or you completely forgot.
Then someone comes around and this story is played back. This collection will likely not stay together, and the story lost forever. But it is just one of thousands of stories of surviving soldiers. We know this story, but only in the abstract. This had value in that it was connected to one person, it could have been put together in a museum to showcase his career.
57thorns, the story isn't lost forever. It is now documented (in abstract) and preserved for a really long time. And it's being told to countless viewers. While the documents won't stay together, more people are hearing this story than ever would have if the trunk hadn't been sold to a youtuber.
@@57thorns Your comment has me smh. How could you say something like that? You sound like a negative ned. Maybe you shouldn't be watching people like Alex, you just ground him into the dirt.
“Parachuting as a career, I hear it has its ups and downs”. My eyes rolled so hard they nearly got lost at the back of my head. Dad joke game on point
Look up Dakota Meyer who is a Medal of Honor recipient and an ex Marine..he's into parachuting and skydiving. I think it's crazy, but some people love it. I'm not that brave.
DON'T ENCOURAGE HIM!
It's Dad humour! 😂
OR...he could have said...if at first you don't succeed - maybe parachuting is not for you 🤣
I like the way he said it and didn't miss a beat. Lol.
I love that you opened that trunk together as a family. That is such an awesome adventure ,especially for your children to learn about history in a tangible way. Times like this will be special memories for your children when they become adults.
Please do a follow-up when you have learned more about these items and possibly about the man himself.
I appreciate that you showed respect while you went through these items.
It was especially nice you showed a good example to respect the people
who fought to preserve freedom in the world in their day in front of the children.
Thank you sir.
He had no respect you don't go through thinking "How can I make money" pfft
I agree with Kevin. You don’t go through thinking I’ll get 100 bucks here, 100 bucks there. You are holding history, that is priceless. Keep everything together and search for the family members or give it to a museum. Great find though. Do the right thing and don’t separate this treasure.
@@martin096 But the family did not want the trunk or contents. They sold it to him out of their home. In the Show More area which may have been updated since the video was posted, he said they were dealing with a large estate and did not want it. They sold it to him because he does have a business selling things on. If that is your business you DO go through pricing stuff. He did give some to a local museum too. but individual collectors like to have things for themselves. He's got video about buying a house and contents and land and finding money here and there, which, since he bought house and contents, was his to keep. And if you give it back to family members, the public often never gets a look at it when they would appreciate the history or seeing books or maps that were common years ago but your family or my family threw away.
Alex BOUGHT it from the son or grandson for $ 1'000.-. The family member shouldn't have sold it as HIS relative. Alex makes his living from selling it on. The family member knew that.
I dig what you are doing man, you also gotta be one of the nicest, well mannered guys out there. All the best energy.
Pablo Colombi agreed!!! So very respectful!
Such a nice comment!! ❤️❤️
Amen!
Canadians always very nice 🙂
We found all sorts of interesting items in my grandfather's trunk.He landed at Normandy fought through Berlin.His unit was one of the first to find the camps.He never spoke of the war,had nightmares till he passed.
Have also family members from 2ndWW who never talk and scream horrible in their sleep. But also know Germans who were in Russian Camps for years. Those boys had to serve their country at age 18 or got shot. Further friends who served in Vietnam, in Kosovo 1996-1999 former Yugoslavia and extremely gruesome (Croatians, Albanians, Macedonians, Serbs, Romans etc.), in Lybia, Afghanistan wherever as I moved a lot in my life.
"A country can't WIN a war or battle, it will only have the smaller loss."
Salute to grandpa! That battle in normandy beaches was one of the bloodiest and he was lucky to made it to the seawall. Salute to all the vets around the world!
Many of the wonderful Canadian soldiers who helped liberate the camps could not bring themselves to speak about what they saw. I interviewed a veteran who said he still had nightmares, but just could not describe what he witnessed out loud. The trauma, and sorrow too, I think, left them tongue tied.
Hi Alex, What a find!! I got my Dad's Navy trunk. It had his uniform in it! He was so thin! The thing I found sad in this trunk was the "homemade" Christmas bell, and the tiny ornaments. Sad Christmas this man had away from his family.😔 At this time of year, we ALL need to remember our Service Men and Women, away from their families, helping to keep us free.
Thanks, and Blessings on you, and your sweet family.🍁🍊
The Corpse Bride
Thanks so much Alice... yes he probably had a few Christmas 🎄 away from home :(
Curiosity Incorporated Thanks,Alex, take care, stay cozy.☺
My grandfather said that you would have to be of Higher up Rank to need those rule books A local museum would LOVE to have the contents of your trunk...
To even have a foot trunk like that you needed to be an officer...plus the owner of the trunk was a Captain
He stated in his description that some did go to the local museum.
My dad visited your store today and he brought back for me the item you pull out at 3:44. I live just a ferry ride away from Vancouver so this is pretty awesome!
I'd be sleeping in the doghouse if my wife knew I sprung a grand on that lot, mind you, it's a great bit of WWII knowledge and the kids had a great time. Memories with the ones you love are priceless. Great video.
I've been hooked since subbing, I still have a few years to watch the rest. Thanks ever so much!
The Wallace family
What a fun thing to do! Spending time with your family while discovering such interesting things together, well, it's priceless. This is a history lesson none of you will ever forget.
Richard Titmuss, who wrote the fewer children pamphlet, was a very well known and significant economist that shaped the UK social system. Depending on how many of those were printed, an academic collector might pay a pretty decent price for it. I know I would if the shipping didn’t cost me half my salary lol
it is my opinion, as a veteran of many years, that an officer would have tons of reference books and regulations for commanding. I was familiar and required to read regulations, technical manuals and field guides my entire career and they all focused on my field of expertise. But as an officer, leading a multitude of separate specialties he would have used these to perform troop evaluations and even corrective action for training issues.
I am a retired military guy and history buff here in the US. I love our history (US, Canada, UK etc...) good and bad. Thank you for posting this. I enjoyed this video very much. I think you got more than your moneys worth with those sketches. But that's me.
All of those need to find a home not thrown in the rubbish, I'm sure that museums would love that stuff, good on you for unlocking that history.
We will make Sure they find a good home
Like the Dyersburg b17 training base
If you found any b17 training manuals
I would find a military museum to give to for their archives. That would be the best thing to do next to trying to find any relatives that are still around.
I agree and "Not Putting all Eggs in 1 Basket" it'd be wise to split the lot between 2+ museums, each Exhibit will be fascinating but it'll safeguard against total loss eg. by Fire/Flood. The Mitchell Ref Library, Glasgow suffered a fire & The School of Art's been set on fire twice in 5yrs (One theory; A man whose leg was broken? during a fall made a Public Liability Insurance Claim; Someone "in Authority" thought they'd tell him to F** off?, so he torched the place, twice. The fires were "Revenge-Justice". An American Psychic I know well wrote of the 2nd fire 48hrs before it happened, quoting a name he's extremely unlikely to have known; Gray. Muriel Gray is the Head of the School Board) There's so much material here it can easily be split up; If Ive correctly identified the Cartoonist case owner he's onto a winner with the Early Original Wartime Artwork!
Yes check with a museum , what amazing find , prayers you receive much more than what you paid Alex.... such a kind man you are .... bless you and family
17:00 that was a STRONG dad joke. Let it not go unnoticed
The dumps joke was pretty epic as well.
My thoughts on the Art information is that during the War the Nazis confiscated many valuable Art as they looted during the War. This could be part of the reason there are so much art information in the trunk. He could have been part of a group trying to rescue stolen Art.
Wasn’t he posted in Japan or am I wrong please correct if so
Maybe something to do with art that builds morale or expresses national culture or something, freedom of expression in democracy, that kind of thing.
In 1962 my family lived on Vancouver Island. My mom & her friend inherited a very old cottage that had been owned by a European family. As they started to clean out the house - the husband & wife (owners) appeared to be hoarders. Mom & her friend started sifting through all of the "treasures" - I spent many a day (as a child) watching in curiosity, as there were many comments & excitement as my mom seemed to find "priceless" artifacts. The European couple were in fact part of the "underground" during WWII - they lived in Holland and helped with getting the Jewish people out of Germany, this was determined by a diary mom found, written in German, later translated by a museum curator in Victoria BC. The old couple had done an excellent job of hiding & storing many valuable pieces of Art and gold coins, pewter & silver. In some old tins found under the kitchen sink there were several cans of "lard" - hidden in the tins & covered my the stinky old lard were valuable pieces of jewelry and gold coins. The most valuable (historic) find was an original Rembrandt drawing - it was wrapped in oil cloth covered by old linens. Everything, except the Rembrandt, were sent to a museum in Victoria BC - the museum made contact with other Canadian museums and many of the pieces found their places in museums across Canada. The Rembrandt was sent to the Royal London Museum in England for verification of authenticity. Mom received a letter in 1963 advising, in fact, the Rembrandt was real. Mom & her friend donated the art to the London Museum. However, this experience for me - set the stage for a life long pursuit for historic memorabilia.
Rescue....lol. The Allied Powers are guilty of looting as well. Spoils of war. Nothing is "rescued".
Hydrzx he was Canadian so he most likely fought in Europe as a member of the commonwealth armies. The war with Japan was more of an American front with allied support
Hey Alex,
Check the lining of the trunk... you never know!! :)
You beat me to it..
Thank you for sharing this with us. =)
Frederick Spector great thought
I have an old trunk that has a lot of 1929 100 dollar bills in the upper section of the paper/leather combo lining. They are stacked in four rows, i carefully pealed enough to figure out what the thickness that doesn't match the rest of the walls is. Not going to remove them.
Try steaming them off. If you don’t, the next owner will.
You seem like a model parent man for sure, and it would be crazy to be a father that records most of his weekly work , I think its a perfect thing for children to educate themselves on what there parents/parent does through out there work life. Nothing makes it more perfect than being able to watch your parents vlog on youtube to learn about what they do for their career. Amazing!!!
what an awesome little microcosm of one mans experience of ww2. while no individual item i saw is a goldmine the value is definitely in the grouping. collectors really love groupings. you should really keep it as a group. individually each little bit of ephemera becomes just another anonymous little bit, of which, frankly, there are many. this was a war and this information needed to be disseminated to armed forces of millions. however as a group all known to have belonged to one single man. each little bit becomes a bit of a mosaic telling this one mans story. and in some ways, that is priceless.
The question is:
This story has been told thousands of times. Very few of the items, besides the invitation and the drawings, were really personal. Putting together a collection like this from random sources can tell the same unpersonal story.
I agree, this should have great value for the family, and it might be interesting for a museum that does not have a display like this.
But there is also a commercial value, and without any more provinence than is shown, the whole might well be worth less than the parts.
What a wonderful collection I hope you read it all thoroughly such a shame the family weren’t interested in keeping this LEST WE FORGET! Love from an ANZAC descendant xxx
This made the pack rat in me happy. My husband retired from US service a year ago. We still have most of his training from over the years. Now I have cause to keep them all. Maybe in 50 years someone will want them for a collection of some sort. There may or may not be manuals on nuclear weapons protection.
The trunk was kept in a dry place. No mold or humidity. That kept the paper and colors in pristine condition. That is something an appreciative family member should have in their archive.
The drawings reminded me of the cartoon character, Sad Sack. My dad had a hard back book of Sad Sack, a WW2 Army soldier. Thank you for the tour of your trunk, it was interesting.
My dad had the same footlocker. He was US Navy. I found so many papers, magazines, orders, medals and letters. Wonderful to see pictures of my dad as a young man. If your life is worth living, then it is worth recording. So happy you found this and are ensuring proper respect is given to this officer.
Oh my goodness. Id love to have opened that! Totally worth ever penny... I thought 2 things watching... One was.. Oh look at all the paper.. They would be great in junk journals (that I make), and then I thought... Man the history!
One mans junk is another mans treasure. The best thing in there was the art work. Coming from a family of artists I really enjoyed seeing them.
All that literature is so special it would be worth so much for a group of reenactors. I would love to sit and read through all of that stuff
You are so human I love it. You say we should stack these up....then you get interested and soon you say it again...Just like all the rest of us.
I was born in 1941 and my father was in Germany fighting for us. I wish I would have listened to more of his war stories since I am older, I want to know more. I saw the date of May, 1945 on one of the documents you found. I was born in June so I was just going to turn 4. I remember my Grandmother giving all we cousins pans and spoons and loading we all in Grandpa's car. He took us down to the big circle around the downtown area and we went around an around banging on our pots. Vivid memory. TFS.
Thank you for sharing :)
You say your father was in Germany in 1941, is/was he German or a POW at the time?
@@tallthinkev POW
@@tallthinkev I am sorry I guess I was confused about the dates. Dad didn't join the war until America Joined the War. He was drafted so I think the date was later. Not a POW. I must have been having a senior moment. LOL Sorry!
OK, get what you mean now. Both my grandfathers had reserved occupations, however four of my great uncles were in, three were called up and the oldest joined up in 1938, so did the whole 6 (yes 6!) years.
I have sold a lot of US Military Ephemera, but I have never struck a find this great. You have definitely made your money back, and then some. Good find and good decision to buy.
“What’s this worth? What that worth?!” Just appreciate the history!
Truth teller, that sounds like his problem! Just appreciate the history. He sounds so greedy asking for money here and there.
Your very right
That's people for you. Money. Money. Money. Kids going crazy..money. money. Like robots.
He obviously WAS appreciating the history. Of course he's got the bottom line in his mind as he's going through stuff, he IS a businessman. He isn't a historian or museum curator, he is in the business of selling stuff. He appreciates the cool history factor but at the end of the day, he can't keep finding interesting things and sharing them with us if he doesn't find enough saleable stuff to keep the cycle going. I think he does a great job of balancing the monetary aspect with appreciating the historical aspects of what he finds and buys.
@@lizzybearcutie So do I
Oh my goodness, the history alone! You need to find the right historian buyer. Beautiful buy. Thank you for sharing.
A video with Dave. So happy to see him. Sympathies Melissa and you all . So sorry Dave was one of our very early casualties of this pandemic. You are an loving, inspiring family. Please everyone get a pulse oximeter so you can monitor your oxygen levels at home if you get covid 19.
lmao... covid is just the flu. 90% of people that actually died, they had other issues that caused their death WHILE having covid, aka the flu
So good to see Dave alive again. Your kids were so young. Thanks for taking us back. Ray in Boise
Thank you for sharing...I loved the sketches...The late Stan Lee illustrated US Army manuals.
My mother had that drawing style. It was a scribbling sketching type of drawing with distinctive features like the nose, hair, ears, etc. She was a teenager in 1945. Ty for sharing this, it reminded me of my mother and my father aswell. They are both gone now. The Greatest Generation. Whether from the US, Canada, or anyone else who fought the Nazi’s in WW2.
I love what you do. Thank you so much for being so gentle about the subject. Just amazing. ....if you found any reference to Geehan's, I would be so grateful. Hugs
Wow just amazing to look through a piece of history!
You and your family were also very respectful when you went through everything and that's amazing in it self!
And honestly my thoughts based on what was in the trunk was that this person was a very knowledgeable person who like to learn and also collect things that were apart of his journey, and based on the art he had a great humor lol.
So parachuting has its ups and downs does it?
Alex. Alex. Alex.
Thank you for thinking of us to let us come along on this adventure with you. You provided for us a good heart race of anticipation.
Fantastic video!!!
Glad you liked it William I don’t have a chance to open up 70-year-old boxes very often!
@@CuriosityIncorporated The fact I do Stand Up Comedy may have something to do with the comment I wanna make about you opening up a 70 year old box, but, this is a family channel, so.......I'll just shut up cause I think you know where it'll go Alex???
this was great to watch. when my grandparents passed away, we went through the old farm house, same one my dad grew up in, and found many things from my grandpa's time in the war. in fact, he wrote an entire book about it, from becoming part of the national guard back in ND, to his role in the invasion of normandy, all the way until the war was won. my dad is working on getting it publishable.
As a family event = priceless ......great video
Wow what an interesting treasure chest. Hey dont be disappointed that there wasnt gold or money or guns. The experience itself, having your family there and opening it together, that was worth the $1,000. A lot of learning for the children. I can just picture them in the future taking over the antique store and continuing in their fathers legacy. Enjoy precious family time.
As a retired military man I found the items in the trunk very interesting. The war time art is similar to some postcards I have that came from my dad, a corporal in the US Army in WWII. I also have a V mail letter. You wrote a letter while overseas, it was then photographed and sent to the recipient in the states. You almost have to have a magnifying glass read the missive as it is only about 3" by 5". Considerably smaller than the original letter.
V-Mail with cartoons are a hot item..I have about 30 of them with way better hot girl joke cartoons and the u.s. g.i was stationed in austraila and even had some great kangaroo cartoons...
It's nice to see you being respectful of the items you are finding. All those books and documents look to be in very good shape. I would think military memorabilia collectors and/or museums would be quite interested in this find.
Love the dad jokes, 🙄😉 great history in that trunk, thx for sharing ♥️
My Father was in World War Two and I have all of the stuff he had flags papers stars and stripes etc. Always interesting to go through that stuff. Dad started out as a Private and ended up as a Sgt. in the Combat engineers blowing bridges before the German's could get across. He spent his whole time in the European theater. We lost dad to lung cancer back in 2003 and even had a Military Honor guard at his funeral. Thanks for going through the trunk on video it was great.
Anybody else hearing "That belongs in a museum!" running through their head?
The history in that trunk is invaluable! A history department would love to have that stuff. Donate what you don’t sell.
What a tremendous treasure trove of World War II Canadian military issued information. I'd make a few calls and would bet there is a place for this material, especially in the condition this material appears to be.
I will reach out to the museum here :)
I just kept being reminded of Geraldo Rivera and the Al Capone vault on this one. With that being said, the contribution of history enclosed in this time capsule is priceless!
This makes me sad to watch-why would so one sell a priceless family heirloom -and without looking inside. Once your family history is gone it is gone for good. Someone else In the family might have cherished those items. I just don't understand this. Why doesn't personal history mean anything to anyone.
Sadly to many of current generation are so self absorbed, have no interested in anyone else but their achievements and life. I know lots my age that have no interested in ancestry research and means nothing to them as it's past.
Neat trunk! It reminds me of what I found in two old wooden end tables at a auction..they both were loaded with ww11 metals and badges , purple hearts lots of really old military stuff, I only paid 20 dollars for both tables some years ago
Oh my gosh, this is so amazing. This inspires me to start collecting old vintage memorabilia
This was really exciting, thanks so much for sharing! I have family that fought in the war and many old photos. I have recently been dividing them up between family members since I tended to have possession of so many from my mother's family. Love looking to them.
I wonder if G. R. WILLIAMS IS Garth Williams. He is a famous illustrator. For the English army. Then Later illustrated children's books. His work is very similar.
I was told the illustrator did drawings for GI magazine during the war :)
Garth Williams' full name was Garth Montgomery Williams, so not the G.R. Williams.
The signature on the drawings sure didn't look like a "Williams" in any shape or form. That tells me they were a gift to him.
@@abbycross90210 yeah, kinda looked like Harlan ? Sorry Abby , just reminded myself this was 2018. Everyone probably knows who the artist was by now.
The artists signature is S. Kershaw.....I've not found any info.....
Hi there, my name is Judith, Canadian born but have been in the UK since a child and have been happily married to a Brit for many, many years. I have not commented before as I have only just found your TH-cam channel.. I have seen many of your videos now and have really enjoyed the content. You are all so real in the broadcasting that I almost feel I know you! I feel compelled to comment now because of the contents of this particular trunk. You have handled the contents with great respect. You see I would not be here except for WW2. My father was a Canadian soldier from 1938 to 1945. He was posted to the UK in 1939 and was stationed in Wales soon after arriving. Not long after that he met my mother, a pretty Welsh Girl just 22 years of age. He used to say how difficult it was to Court her as she was always surrounded by her three brothers, one in the navy, one in the Air Force and one a sapper in the army. Despite their attempts to keep him at bay he finally won through, and won my mother.
My father was a small arms instructor but also an engineer. You found detail regarding small fire arms in trunk I believe. My father served in France, Belgium and Germany and was away from my mother for over a year, completely out of touch with each other. Once the beachhead was secured in France in June my father went over on DDay plus three. He spent much of his time in France and Germany either repairing infrastructure e.g. railways, bridges and the like and even sometimes destroying infrastructure depending on which way the allies were going. He had many amusing stories to tell but would not be drawn on the more harrowing aspects of the war he witnessed. I think many military men behave the same way when they returned home.
After the war they returned together to Canada, they both travelled for free as she was deemed to be a war bride. . My fathers family are from Sudbury Ontario so that is where they settled first , and where I was born, but eventually lived in Toronto where, as an engineer my father was commissioned to work on the extension of the subway system to a suburb named Scarborough.
I am sorry to have taken so much time getting to why this particular find of yours has touched me so much.
Please keep up the many good works you have and done and will do going forward try not to get too busy to have lots of fun along the way. Many best wishes to you, Melissa and the rest of your loving family. Regards. Judith
Thanks so much for taking the time to write Judith :)
I love your beautiful Canadian accent, and your shiny optimism treasure hunting!
I thought he had a Western accent...sounds just like everyone from Oregon to me.
What a cool trunk. I have some things from my mom and dad. Dad was Army,Mom Navy . Take care,be safe,have fun.
Brendan Fraser stoped acting, and is now buying old stuff for antique show, the youtube series :3
He reminds me of Brendan Fraser too.
@@venitaclark3490 Yes, I see it, but I was thinking more of Kyle McLaughlin or the guy in Office Space. The whole family are cute people.
I had that thought! Sorry. He is handsome though, take it as a compliment
😂 😂😂😂
Zeonix you beat me to it lol!
My Grandfather was in WWII (he was born in Canada, but was a US citizen - I don't know the story about that) and died on Christmas Day 1944. My Mom was only 4 months old when he passed. Anyway, this was an exciting video to watch! Thanks for sharing it!
A lot of geat things. I like goimg through old stuff! What treasures you have!
Absolutely amazing! I am so happy you waited to unveil the contents, I wonder if you can find some local historians and let them in on the treasure trove. I think there are a lot of people with interest in history who would be over the moon to get their hands on such rare "unpublished" manuals, especially in the condition they're in!
To me this is so very interesting. I love collecting this kind of things. My father fought for Germany in WW1 and Yes I mean WW1. He was 60 when I was born, just don't ask. He immigrated to the USA to perform in Vaudeville. I so very much, mostly photos of the time period. So when I see your new little collection I Think it is really cool. do your research on this stuff. Thanks for sharing it.
That’s a wonderful find. I was a little child living in Virginia in the middle of three military bases. I remember the black out at night. It was a very strange time. I have always been very interested in the war. I had to uncles in the army. One was in the tank division called he’ll on wheels. The other piloted a landing craft on the beaches. Our family was grateful they both came home safely. Hell on wheels!
Hi from Pensacola Florida Great video! Thanks for sharing your find and family time.
Glad you liked it Rob!
Pensacola as well thank you Canada and winning WW2,nice War collectables...
Wow, that is so awesome. My Dad served in the 2nd World War, he was stationed in North Africa fighting against Field Marshall Rommel. Loved your video..
Thanks for watching Neil!
i have some of the ANZAC versions of those books from my Dads time in the Army in the early 50's. . He probably fought alongside ANZACs too.
My Dad was in World War II, Navy USA Aircorp, which is now the Airforce. He had a lot of similar stuff, but was only a Machinists Mate 2nd Class. Never flew, but worked on Airplanes and maintenance. He actually never was assigned to any ship. He had terrible problems with Seasickness, so they kept him grounded.
omg amazing stuff. museum quality books and stuff.
It was all in pretty perfect condition
This is fascinating. I love the variety of fonts in those pamphlets.
The bell , if it wasn’t covered with aluminum foil, is a child’s toy. They used to come on a little type of strap, with about 4 on it. You would hang them on the rail of the baby bed for the baby to play with. It was a pretty good developmental toy. First the baby would just hit at it to hear it ring, then by the time they could sit up, they could actually hold it and ring it. They came in pastel colors. I don’t remember them past the early 60’s. Such interesting info in there. I would think that a military museum would LOVE to have those items. Good find...hope you get your money back and then some. 😊👍🏻
There is value in the trunk itself with the top tray--most trunks this piece is missing. Dolls are not creepy and I belong to a doll club and we are very worried about the attitude being taught to young girls about dolls. It is a part of our history just as much as boy's toys and the need to preserve them is important. Thank you.
it's a kewpie doll isn't it? they used to be prizes in Sideshows and were stuck on a stick .He was probably with a date somewhere and won it for her ,throwing balls at coconuts or something...
I think the creepy factor of all dolls generally comes from the condition, and the fact is the human form. We have several old dolls we have given Abigail in good shape and she enjoys them
The doll isn't "Creepy" at all! It's adorable. I played with many dolls just like that in the '40's. They were very popular for little girls.
@@Mercmad It looks like a doll used in a doll house---not a Kewpie.
@@CuriosityIncorporated I know you are an excellent parent-just trying to let people know that they are something to cherish like other toys from the past.
You have wonderful family. Great kids! The 2 of you have done an awesome job of parenting.
That trunk is priceless
Very appropriate timing being that remembrance day is November 11. My dad was one of those young men who signed up at 18 and spent till he was 24 in the fields of France. There is a department in the federal government which manages military memorabilia. They may be interested in some of the trunk contents.
Great snap shot of the past ! The sad part is the men and women that fought in ww2 are slowly disappearing and our children have to rely on some cheesy war movie for facts
how much do they rely on old people now? nothing will change when they are all gone, Just sayin.
@@fredrik7411 indeed, why do think the world is the way it is.
Lol women couldn’t fight back the
Too bad they dont have many immersive documentaries like Restrepo of past wars.
Oh yes it was that way for me for the first world war when I was in school we had to watch black adder goes forth just to see the ending to see a good representation of the soldiers going over the top. My grandparents were to young to serve in the second world war so the memories they have shared are of life living during the bombings of Manchester and running to the Anderson shelters seeing the bombers fly over
What an excellent find. I am sure you will make your money back. I find all this kind of historical stuff, ephemera etc so interesting.
try to keep the books together as sets. And to checkout the WW2 veterans groups for information. I would also check out whether or not he was discharged as an commissioned officer. He may have kept some things to himself in the trunk because of the nature of the work he did.
I have a similar collection of artifacts that belonged to my father-in-law from WWI. Very interesting to explore. I have his 1918 diary in which he comments about the day he was injured, and the armistice on November 11, 1918. We found numerous trinkets such as eyeglasses, a razor and spare blades, a Red Cross first aid kit. One of my favorite items was an envelope that commented on the source of the blood stain on it, as the result of his sustained injury. We are working on the collection now to get it into some type of logical order. Handling the items takes my breath away every time!
the contents were almost exactly what i was expecting,minus a uniform
Polly g Or anything actually cool
I kinda thought he'd find a uniform. My Dad kept his. My sister and Mom gave them away.
My Dad kept his dress blues on a hanger in a suit bag in the closet. I think it got thrown out in the 1950's sometime.
This was really interesting. My Grandfather on my Father's side fought in WWI (He had children much later in life and passed when my Father was 18). My Grandfather on my Mother"s side fought in WWII and seeing this really brought a tears to my eyes b/c my Grandfather is still alive and I'm not vary close to him, so to see this was really interesting and touching. I'm glad that the officer mentioned most likely had a good homecoming, my Grandfather however did not, he went Home to find His Family gone and moved to a new house. They never wrote Him to let Him know so he had to do some digging to even find his family after coming home from War... Thank you for sharing a thread of that gentleman's story and a part of history with Us. Subbed to your channel!
That Manhattan Bronx map piqued my interest as I love all things NYC :D
All of those training manuals and military exclusive documents are priceless! What an amazing find! You share the coolest stuff with us. Thanks!
Great items all but the one that I would like is the box of Christmas ornaments.
$1000 well spent! Thank you for sharing
The fact that this person was a Captain and had his own set of the King's Regulations, plus the admin paperwork in the folder, suggests he was a divisional officer, probably with home defence forces. If he was with home defence it would suggest they were over the age to see front-line service and may have been a career soldier or someone commissioned to the army for home service because they had specific talents or experience that would be useful to the military. I would imagine a full set of King's Regulations like those from 1939 in good, original condition would be worth quite a decent amount of money as they certainly would not have been issued to enlisted men, and probably not all officers, as they would have got a heavily abridged version in the form of soft cover book/lets which are fairly common. To have a full set like that would suggest this person had responsibilities for military discipline and applying appropriate punishments for breaches of conduct so he probably wasn't just flying a desk during the war. From the nature of the books found in the lower level of the trunk I would take a guess that they were probably in military stores with a specialism as an armourer...
That’s a very good assertion!
The king's regulations are to be adhered to by all ranks. We still have queens regulations now but it's online in electronic form. You don't have to know everything in there but if you're unsure on how certain practices are supposed to be or even how to dress in uniform properly etc you refer to the regulations. Love from England, great video
Contact the LDS church genealogical department and offer the phone book to them. I'm sure they would be thrilled to record it!
The content of this trunk is just incredible ! What a find !
Looks like he was as supply officer, lots of those. The books of regulations were for everyone, you had to get familiar with them, they ask you questions in boot camp/OCS, I know all about it! You have to memorize the general orders etc.. or whatever the Canucks call them. The enemy would want to know what was above him but he was just getting what his guys needed.
This is so cool! My dad taught in Germany during World War II and he, too, has some hand Drawn pictures like that!
Those military manuals could probably fetch more than you'd expect if you auctioned them off on eBay.
This is the third video of yours that I have happened upon [yup, I subscribed during the 2nd one ]. I learn so much from your explorations, about Canadian life and about life in general. This find, from the 40's is so interesting. My Uncle served in the US Army the same time as mentioned in this episode. And he was an aartist for the Army, too. There is so much to learn and to keep as knowledge. Thanks for sharing!