John Kettler Posted January 23, 2005 Share Posted January 23, 2005 Troops, By sheer happenstance, I blundered into a place I'd never heard of and attained grog nirvana. It's called the W.W.II Store and is located at 1422 Marcelina Avenue in Torrance, California 90501, phone 310-533-4-WW-2. No website, but E-mail is ww2store@sbcglobal.net Books, posters, emphemera, medals, uniforms, flags, insignia, inert ordnance, even WW 2 seat backs mint in box, this place has them and more. The book collection is both broad and deep (hundreds I'd never seen), there being, for example, an entire shelf devoted to books by Japanese writers on the war, ranging from first person stuff to scholarly studies, one on women in the War, a shelf on CBI, etc., in addition to the more familiar topics. The store doesn't sell firearms, but deactivated MG and 20mm cannon ammo is available, as is an apparent 3" AP shot (glad I didn't have to load the gun; shot alone was a beast). Need RAF goggles, a U.S. Army officer's uniform or a DAK sun helmet? You're good to go. Same if you want LIFE from WW 2, CORONET, or any number of flying periodicals (one I saw had the XF-4U Corsair prototype on it). Radios, field phones, minesweeping gear, practice bombs? Yes! Grog heaven! Met a guy who's so into regalia collecting that he gets his books directly from Bender and a charming Frenchman with whom I discussed the Italian "chariot" (don't trust my Italian to spell "pig") ops in Gib and Alexandria and who was curious to know why USMC dress swords had a Star of David on the blade near the hilt. People are now poring over reference books to answer that one. If you get a chance, go, but be sure to call ahead, since I don't have the store hours. Regards, John Kettler P.S. Got a bunch of people there excited about CM in all its incarnations, too! [ January 22, 2005, 07:39 PM: Message edited by: John Kettler ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offtaskagain Posted January 23, 2005 Share Posted January 23, 2005 The star on the sword is there because it was the symbol of the swordmakers guild of damascus, who I belive crafted the Mameluke sword presented to Lt. Presley O'Bannon in 1805 at Tripoli. If you look at it closeley you will note it has a solid circle in the middle inidicating its the guild's symbol, not a star of David. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted January 23, 2005 Share Posted January 23, 2005 Good point. The six-pointed star is not the exclusive property of Israel nor of Judaism. It has been used as an emblem or symbol of one sort or another in various times and places by different groups for different reasons. A similar case is the swastika, which has been used as far back as ancient India and as wide as North America by Native American tribes. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.