WW1 Bolo

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  • Ravitch

    Member
    Feb 28, 2021
    70
    Cape St. Claire
    My grandmother recently passed away, and when cleaning up the garage I found this gem buried under a ton of clothes and boxes. My Great Grandfathers WW1 Bolo knife and Basic Training graduation plaque, way fancier than what I left basic training with :lol:

    Highlight of my year saving this knife and piece of family history.
     

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    KH195

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 10, 2013
    1,550
    Virginia
    Very sorry for the loss of your grandmother. Amazing heirlooms that survived in fantastic condition! I hope they stay in your family for many generations to come! What unit did he serve with?
     

    wilcam47

    Ultimate Member
    Apr 4, 2008
    25,948
    Changed zip code
    My grandmother recently passed away, and when cleaning up the garage I found this gem buried under a ton of clothes and boxes. My Great Grandfathers WW1 Bolo knife and Basic Training graduation plaque, way fancier than what I left basic training with :lol:

    Highlight of my year saving this knife and piece of family history.

    Thats awesome!
     

    KP Shooter

    Le Flâneur
    Dec 1, 2009
    359
    Long Island/ MoCo
    This is incredibly awesome.
    Some recommendations:
    Write down everything you can remember about him, be it passed down from your older relatives or from your own memory. Your grandchildren will appreciate it. Also, source his discharges and any awards. Best to compile it all together now.
     

    dontpanic

    Ultimate Member
    Jul 7, 2013
    6,625
    Timonium
    I have my Grandfather's. One of my most cherished possessions.

    That basic training certificate is super cool.
     

    Deep Thought

    Active Member
    Jan 27, 2013
    575
    Columbia, MD
    Very nice! I'd look into how to preserve that. Looks good for wear for now! Acid paper.. sunlight.. I'm not an archivist but something that special might merit a little preservation homework.
     

    KH195

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 10, 2013
    1,550
    Virginia
    Very nice! I'd look into how to preserve that. Looks good for wear for now! Acid paper.. sunlight.. I'm not an archivist but something that special might merit a little preservation homework.

    Excellent point. The service certificate is worthy of proper archival quality preservation. Do your research on local framing options (NOT Michaels) and find a place that does real museum/archival quality framing and that will last forever. I had several documents/photos of my great grandfathers WWI service professionally framed...not cheap but I know they’ll now last a LOT longer than I will.
     

    Ravitch

    Member
    Feb 28, 2021
    70
    Cape St. Claire
    Very nice! I'd look into how to preserve that. Looks good for wear for now! Acid paper.. sunlight.. I'm not an archivist but something that special might merit a little preservation homework.

    Excellent point. The service certificate is worthy of proper archival quality preservation. Do your research on local framing options (NOT Michaels) and find a place that does real museum/archival quality framing and that will last forever. I had several documents/photos of my great grandfathers WWI service professionally framed...not cheap but I know they’ll now last a LOT longer than I will.

    Those are great points that I hadn't thought of, thanks. I'll look into that this week. The certificate looks great, but you can tell the handwriting has definitely faded over time, so for sure I need to get on this and make sure it's preserved. Appreciate the tip fellas.
     

    Ravitch

    Member
    Feb 28, 2021
    70
    Cape St. Claire
    What an awesome find!

    Freaking awesome! That is a family heirloom that needs to be treasured!!

    Thats awesome!

    Very cool.

    I have my Grandfather's. One of my most cherished possessions.

    That basic training certificate is super cool.

    Amazing!
    Thanks for sharing!

    Excellent piece of family and national history!

    Very nice sir. :thumbsup:

    Outstanding

    Thanks for all the comments and feedback, I know I've always loved seeing other's military heirlooms when shared and wanted to do the same.

    Very sorry for the loss of your grandmother. Amazing heirlooms that survived in fantastic condition! I hope they stay in your family for many generations to come! What unit did he serve with?

    The only thing I know is the training unit that is on the certificate, which I'll report back on. The rest I have to dig in and research, my Dad just came into town to stay for a couple weeks and I plan on quizzing him for as much as he knows. What's weird is I didn't even know he served at all, but this side of my family is kind of a mystery. My grandmother converted over to Jehovah's Witness at a young age which kind of fractured that line a little bit. She almost had a stroke when I joined the Army, talking about how I was signing up to be part of Satan's system.

    This is incredibly awesome.
    Some recommendations:
    Write down everything you can remember about him, be it passed down from your older relatives or from your own memory. Your grandchildren will appreciate it. Also, source his discharges and any awards. Best to compile it all together now.

    Thanks, I'm definitely going to do this and see about accessing more records. I'm assuming that they are probably all public now due to age, but if not easily accessible with a records request.
     

    Deep Thought

    Active Member
    Jan 27, 2013
    575
    Columbia, MD
    Those are great points that I hadn't thought of, thanks. I'll look into that this week. The certificate looks great, but you can tell the handwriting has definitely faded over time, so for sure I need to get on this and make sure it's preserved. Appreciate the tip fellas.

    I really have no idea what I'm talking about... But I'd kinda expect a proper preservation to be in a vacuum frame. I know oxygen can be reactive.
     

    Blacksmith101

    Grumpy Old Man
    Jun 22, 2012
    22,093
    You should be able to find his WWI draft record and possibly more. Here is a link to get you started:
    https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/United_States_World_War_I_Draft_Records

    FamilySearch is a free genealogical site sponsored by the Mormon church you have to sign up but it is free and has access to most of the records that pay sites like Ancestry have.

    Another good site to find where to look for things is Cyndi's List:
    https://www.cyndislist.com/categories/

    For example:
    https://www.cyndislist.com/ww1/
     
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