r/wwiipics

You can see at the top of the gear pile the main and backup chutes, then moving down into the weapons there is quite a bit of interesting gear. Note the 16-inch M1905/M1942 bayonet, the machete in the canvas cover, and the M1918 trench knife knuckle duster (co-located in the 1911 holster), along with a basic penknife in the bottom corner. This guy was into blades!

Two packs of signal flares on the left. His M1911 with two spare mags, and 25 8-round enbloc clips in field-made pouches for the M1 Garand give him over 250-rounds of 30.06 and 21 of .45ACP. Then of course there are four pineapple grenades for when the going gets tough.

The SCR-536 handie-talkie radio (remember it from the green plastic army men days?) was a neat little 5-pound radio made by Motorola that operated in AM voice mode between 3.5 and 6.0 MHz frequency range. Range in built up areas or hilly terrain was line-of-sight while at sea or in the open flat desert at night was as much as 3-miles. Canteen, compass, flash-lite, leather gloves, notebook & pencils.

This 103 WWII veteran gonna see your comments in this post

British Army Matilda infantry tank under camo netting, 1941, Tobruk, North Africa. I always forget how relatively small this tank was.

Easy Company paratrooper Forrest Guth at the Marmion Farm in Normandy in June 1944. 65 years later, Guth posed again with his captured German helmet as he did in 1944.

Douglas A-20J-10-DO (S/N 43-10129) of the 409th Bomb Group after being hit by flak over Germany on May 12, 1944. It burst into flames and crashed a mile west of the target. 2 crew members were KIA and 2 managed to bail out and become POWs.

The deliberate infrastructure destruction in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in early 1945 during World War II. Taken by LIFE magazine photographer John Phillips

A German Messerschmitt Me 410 Hornisse being shot down by Lt. Richard Alexander Stearns of the 350th FS, 353rd FG, USAAF, on November 5, 1943.

Sherman tank, knocked out; on the foreground the body of a crew member; covered with a blanket. France fall 1944

A US B24H Liberator from 783rd Squadron, 465t BG, 15th Air Force is hit by anti-aircraft fire over Germany - 1944

B-29 Superfortress “Slicks Chick’s” of the 505th Bomb Group- On February 10, 1945, while on a bombing run over Japan, "Slick's Chick’s" was rammed by a Kamikaze pilot and subsequently crashed into another B-29 called "Deaner Boy." Both crews were lost that day.

Sacks of gold and money kept by the Germans in the Merkers salt mine in Thuringia, 1945.

PVT William Locke was Killed in Action on Okinawa, May 18, 1945, he was 21 years old.

Marine PFC George Max Chanak pauses by a row of fallen comrades on Okinawa in May, 1945. George was Killed in Action shortly after this picture was taken. He was only 19 years old.

A nest of escorts alongside USS Altair (AD-11) at Port of Spain, Trinidad, 01-Oct-1942; from right to left, USS Spry (PG-64), USS Upshur (DD-144), USS Goff (DD-247), and Dutch escort HNLMS Jan Van Brakel. (3234x2000)

Humorous WW2 Era Letter Typed By Navy Sailor To His Girlfriend Back Home. Details in comments.

Framed by the silhouette of an alert soldier of the 77th Infantry Division, tons of water and coral are blown skyward by the force of a charge set to deepen a channel through a reef offshore, Okinawa. 24 April, 1945.

Marines of the 5th Division provide covering fire while a demolition team works against a Japanese position on Iwo Jima in February 1945. Flamethrowers, grenades, and demolitions were used throughout the battle to clear caves, pillboxes, and fortified volcanic terrain.

Noseart of B-17 Flying Fortress “Bomb’n Belle”

Free Belgian-Congolese Dispatch rider at the Battle of Saio during the Allied liberation of East Africa from Italian control (1941)

Mascot “Mr. Chips,” was picked up by a crew member of the USS Harris, a Navy transport, and became the ship’s mascot. He participated in the attack on Attu, and also has a health record, identification card and a dog tag, 1943.

Gear loadout that the “Angels” of the 511th PIR, 11th #Airborne packed for their combat jump onto Tagaytay Ridge, Luzon, in January, 1945.