Miracle penny that saved WWI soldier's life to go up for auction: 'Never seen anythin
 

Miracle penny that saved WWI soldier's life to go up for auction: 'Never seen anything like this before'

By Chris Ciaccia | Fox News

https://www-foxnews-com.cdn.ampproje...ke-this-before

Without suggesting that this particular item may not be genuine I have to say I've seen one or two holed or dented coins and cigarette cases turn up as "genuine" damaged by bullet items for sale on eBay.

I don't believe it for a second.

two to ponder
 

Here are two examples that came to me with medals and alot of personal items from 2 different chaps .

1 - Bullet's fell at the feet of a soldier at Gallipoli while at the beach ??

2 - coin with bullet dated 1914 came with mans effects and medals from the Desert campaign in the middle east ?? Was wounded in the hip / legs area

Both came with stories from the families regarding these items??

Cheers Rob

I would suggest, that a 1914 penny would show little 'circulation wear', being max 3 years old.
Tony.

Well as I said these are the 2 stories passed down the family line ;) So I cant say yes or no , the bullet yes I believe but the coin ?? But I cant split them from the other items just on my personal feelings .
Rob

I have a few photos and documents to a WWI Bedfordshire Regiment man.
There was a pair of old army braces with them, the metal fitting at the base of the rear strap was bent, dented (you know what's coming).
I located the man's daughter, who'd sold them to the shop I bought them from.
She told me that her father had been working in the trenches, filling sandbags when he felt a blow to the small of his back and was temporarily paralyzed.
He'd been struck by a bullet, presumably a spent one, that had been stopped by the metal fitting on his braces.
Also with the photos etc were a German bayonet and shoulder strap to the Bavarian 97th Infantry Regiment, the strap having a jagged cut and brown staining across the base.
The story told there was that on the Somme he'd had a one on one bayonet fight in No Man's Land with a German who he'd killed and took the souvenirs having received a long bayonet wound along the inside of his left forearm.
I hadn't given any thought to the staining on the shoulder strap until someone looked it and said " Eeyugh, blood".
The MM he'd won on the Somme during "The Battle of The Scarpe", Transloy Ridges and his other medals had been given to his great grandson but no one in the family wanted the bits and pieces I'd bought.
As the saying goes though "Buy the item, not the story".

Yes you are correct but hard to disprove in some cases .

Rob

With regard to the bullet, I am wondering how the outer casing of a newly fired bullet stuck in a coin and presumably kept at the time as a souvenir, shows such corrosion whereas the coin does not.

You can buy loads of them on ebay.

This thread motivated me to pull this group of items out and post. They belonging to Sgt Earl Vollintine who was killed by a German sniper near Massa, Italy April 7th 1945. Earl was one of two brothers killed in the war. His brother Ken had been killed on Mindanao in June of 1944. Both brothers were from a small farming community approx 75 miles south of me in Illinois. These items came from the family. Earl was a squad leader in the U.S. 473rd Infantry Regiment. The local newspaper had reported that Earl's squad had been ordered to take a hill near the town of Massa...After taking the hill they had moved 6 miles further. He had just been given an order to continue the advance when he was shot

The cigarette case had been in a chest pocket with a small group of photos he had received from home. In this case the photo shows Earl's mother and his infant son..... As you can see the bullet passed through the case and the photo.

I had not seen the marked envelopes before. I had been under the assumption that certain items were not sent home if too graphic.

First time posting any of these items.....But now it seems to be keeping his name alive in some way.

Jack

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4814/...3892cf94_b.jpg

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4886/...ba807bec_b.jpg

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4871/...9d3b3c67_b.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7862/...0d34ae63_b.jpg

Jack not sure if that’s a typo but I’ve never heard of a place called Massey in Italy, can’t find it on google maps or the internet - the spelling isn’t very Italian either with a ‘y’. There is a Massy in France, however I believe it was liberated in 1944.

Anything is possible with a small local newspaper at the time, here is the article. never bothered to look for the town but maybe I will now. I see a Masi Italy which is up North kind of south east of Lake Garda in Padua. I had found the unit history on line and remember that the spelling was off a a bit. Either way I hope the forum members find the post interesting,

Correction it is Massa, Italy. In a small rural town in Illinois that came out as Massey.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7805/...6671d0a6_b.jpg

I wonder if that should read 'Massa'. Its in Tuscany.

That is it. ‘Massa”. Just found a photo online of the 473rd entering the town of Massa on April 10, 1945.