If you've watched a few episodes and feel like I've earned it, be sure to subscribe so that you don't miss any new content when it comes out. Also be sure to check out The Gettysburg Museum of History and their store at www.gettysburgmuseumofhistory.com. Thanks!

Fantastic video! This “partnership “ (if so it can be called) between you and Erik is really producing some quality stuff! I love it! Don’t stop!

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Much appreciated!

I knew an old British para called Don who lived in Paignton 15 years ago. He was a working class man but one of nature's true gentlemen - soft spoken, dressed impeccably, always tipped. He was one of the first 100 British paratroop volunteers, but never dropped operationally. This was because in 1940 the RAF wanted to know if it was practicable to parachute into the sea with the Mae West life jacket already inflated. Don was the volunteer selected to test this. The impact drove the Mae West upwards with great force, damaged his neck seriously and knocked him unconscious. He was too badly injured to jump again, but his experience may have saved a lot of aircrew lives.

My father was in the 82nd - 504th PIR Company B. I have his jump uniform from Sicily which has the switchblade pocket in the upper placate of the jacket zipper. It's good to see an example of the knife that went in that pocket. He also carried a similarly modified trench knife like the one in the video. He strapped it to his right leg just above his boot.

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Oh wow! That is amazing.

Just more proof of the heroism of the greatest generation. To be pioneers in trying new equipment is a testament to their bravery and patriotism… thank you.

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching!

Good stuff. What a fast plane you guys must have. France - Gettysburg - France - Gettysburg, all in one week. Talk about jet lag!

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Ha! Yes, it's been a frantic pace that we've been maintaining. Lol.

If you're ever in Kentucky or Tennessee, come on up to the Fort Campbell musuem. You'd be amazed at the WW2 collection and all the other conflict displays.

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

I would like that!

I learned something from this video. I learned that the same company that made explosives for Wile E. Coyote, Acme, also made crickets.

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

😄

HEY, JD & Erik Dorr Well you guy's have so much informative information on so much of the different types of equipment used by the airborne soldiers on D-Day and That's so Awesome I can just sit and listen to all the stories about D-Day and landing of the soldiers and . The drops of the Airborne troopers so I wanted to say thank you for all your doing to keep the memory of all the veterans alive OK take care stay safe God bless and will see you on the next video projects

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

👍🏻

Love your videos. Currently it is snowing outside and I love it when the world is covered in this nice, white blanket, it looks lovely and it is like everything is going quieter in volume. Although I don't like being cold it seems like the best time to watch BoB again, especially the Bastogne... Open the window, turn down the heater and get a feeling how the boys felt in Belguim that long ago... Cannot thank them enough for being responsible for me growing up in peace :)

Great history for everyone. I have one on the US switch blades and 2 of the German gravity knives. Love the German para gravity knives

WOW!! I dropped the ball...wife and I both love history and took a 3 day trip to Gettysburg last year, before I found you on KZread and didn't visit the museum...epic fail!! Planning another trip now. Also, just got my Jim "Pee Wee" Martin autographed dvd in the mail yesterday. Good times, thank you and keep up the great work brother!

You can still buy ACME crickets from ACME, made on the same machines that made the ones that went to Normandy. Jared Frederick mentioned it on an episode of Reel History, and now I have one sitting on my desk. The things are way louder than you think, unless you dampen the other side with your other thumb.

Superb stuff. I saw st mere eglise sign in this episode. For me the airborne museum in st mere eglise was the best museum I saw when was in Normandy. Keep em coming JD. Hope you have a lot more episodes coming about Normandy.

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Need to hit that museum up at some point. Thanks for watching!

@aslooijer

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheHistoryUnderground please do so. It’s totally worth it. And the church with parachute is also great to see

Always a bit of excitement comes when I get a new video notification! Another excellent video!

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Got a lot more to come.

I love learning anything about airborne! I told my army vet dad that if I ever enlisted, I’d want to go airborne

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Got a ton of airborne stuff on the way!

JD ... Another great vlog. You make the past come alive. I love history. Thank you!!!

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for watching.

Ah man this has to be my favourite one! Got so much interest for the airborne. I recently got myself a full uniform, corcoran boots and gloves. Should come to the uk and check out the locations they used over here before D-day

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Definitely plan on getting to the UK at some point. Got lots of airborne content coming up on the channel :)

I love Eriks passion and knowledge as well.

Those men had a lot of cajones. Great work bringing history to life.

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

They were a different breed. Thanks!

A lot of innovation in time to get the guys safely to the ground and not broken up. Lessons learned in some cases the hard way, wonderful video.

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Yes, very much so.

Absolutely love your videos man keep it up!!!!!!

It's amazing how much courage these brave troopers had. God Bless them.

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Very much so.

Hello! This is an old student of yours, I'm not sure if you'll remember me but I loved your classes, and since I moved and graduated highschool I still enjoy learning history from you. I try to keep up with the videos you put out, and I always learn something new. I just wanted to say a huge thank you, and keep up the good work! You're the main reason I became so interested in the history of not only our country, but all over the world. Thank you so much :)

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Of course I remember you! Good to hear from you! Glad that you’re enjoying the videos 🙂

Hope these videos from The Gettysburg Museum of History never stops coming. A super-collab!

The “cricket” clicker reminded me of two scenes from the film “The Longest Day” the first one was with John Wayne briefing his paratroopers on the use of the clicker and doing the demonstration and receiving back a double click from his men, but the second was when the paratrooper clicked once and getting two clicks in return came out into the open only to be shot by a German and uttering a line something like “two clicks, it was two clicks” then the camera 🎥 swings to a soldier re-cocking his rifle, two clicks, and I was wondering if that was just “poetic license” or if that event really happened??, difficult to understand how anyone might know and surly the sound of a bolt action rifle would be so very different that it would be hard to believe it sounds anything like the clicker. 😀👍🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Great video again! Thanks for sharing. Amazing items in that collection

You make fantastic videos but your passion for History is what makes this channel the best. It was very evident in the videos concerning vandalism atop Currahee and shows through on every episode.

Another excellent and intriguing video. Really looking forward to continued equipment videos. Thank you JD and Eric.

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Got a lot more on the way!

Outstanding ! Love this series

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Glad that you're enjoying it!

I want to visit this museum someday. So many amazing items there. Love these videos with you and Eric. You two are a great team.

Very cool!!! Thanks for taking us along!!

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching.

The knuckleduster bayonet is a wild piece.

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, pretty mean looking.

I plan on taking a trip to PA and visit this museum.

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

You'll love it!

Another great job. Thanks

Love this video mate can't wait for more

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Pretty interesting to see the gear that they used.

@pauldouglas3084

2 жыл бұрын

I love collection from ww2 and ww1

Fantastic! Keep up the good work!!!!

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you! Will do!

Nice video, thanks!

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Glad you liked it! Thanks for watching.

Thank you gentlemen for the history lesson!

Great video series

I have to say that this is an awesome series of videos. Need to make the trip there someday, but this works for now. One of the amazing things I noticed from one of your first visits here is just the uniqueness, quality and quantity of artifacts. And that there’s obviously so much, you can’t feature it all individually. I remember some of what I would consider your B roll footage just passed by some things like I think Hitlers personal Nazi flag or something like that, that most museums would be an up front feature and just because of the caliber and quantity of stuff there, it can’t all be featured and is “relegated” to B roll footage. I feel like there’s a ton of gems like that you can only really appreciate in the detail it deserves by going there.

@CraigVillard

2 жыл бұрын

And just in case, I’ll use the disclaimer that I am not in any way supporting Nazis, or the Nazi flag I mentioned, just the uniqueness and historical relevance of it. I know most people here get that, but you never know…

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

So glad that you're enjoying it! It's quite the collection. I've learned a lot from it!

Love those knives Very cool.

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

100%

Wow! Super awesome sir.

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

👊🏻

An authentic cricket has somehow evaded my collection over all my collecting years. Someday I will find one

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Super rare items. Wouldn't mind having one myself.

you gotta love the cricket

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

💯

I bought a replica of a cricket many years ago, and even though I know it's not the real deal, it's still really cool, and it sounds the part.

It is nice to see that you know how to play cricket.😊 Nice collection, thanks for sharing.

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

Very Cool!

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Definitely some cool and unique items.

Very cool

Thanks.

I have a self imposed ban on Eric's store page, at least until after Christmas 😆

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Ha! Believe me. I get it. I was looking at something yesterday and was almost thankful when I looked this morning and saw that someone had bought it. Tons of cool artifacts there.

@repairmaneman9366

2 жыл бұрын

I think my wife has divorce papers drafted already if I buy anymore stuff from that store too!

@johnqpublic2718

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheHistoryUnderground sorry bout that

Definitely very interesting!👍🏻🇺🇸

Fascinating collection of historic artifacts. Guess a lot of let down ropes were used on the farms after the war.

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

I would guess so.

Hi! Great video. Did you see the last member of WWII company that inspired Band of Brothers dies at age 99? Edward Shames his name. So sad.

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

I saw that. Very sad. There’s one guy left. Shames was the last surviving officer.

Hey JD and Eric, love the videos and the museum. Thanks for everything you do JD. Possibly a dumb question. Can or should anything be done to preserve a blade or a scabbard? Or is it recommended to leave artifacts in their found, original state? I have a WW2 Canadian machete. Thanks in advance for any advise and love the show.

Edward Shames last officer of Easy Company passed away today at 99

So cool I’m in Gettysburg right now drove 5 hours from Virginia Beach and the museum is closed! some special event guess tell people to call prior to visiting

Cool.

Great episode, gonna look and see if you released the episode on ww2 fighting knives/paratrooper uniforms. :)

@TheHistoryUnderground

Жыл бұрын

There something on here somewhere about those.

It s common even today when stuck in a tree to deploy your reserve and climb down it

They sell good replicas of those crickets at the national WWII Museum in New Orleans. Like you, this grown child had to purchase one. I thought I better buy one because I was being annoying snapping it over and over in the gift shop. LOL

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Ha! You get it.

@rjsenn4142

2 жыл бұрын

Dang! I was there this summer but didn’t see them. I would have definitely bought one!

Hah the laundry stamp. That was the first thing we did when we were issued things in basic training. Write that in sharpie on everything you were given. Some things never change I guess.

RIP Jay Bowman KIA Normandy France 101st Airborne.

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

🇺🇸

Another good one, JD i

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

Speaking of specialty paratrooper gear, will you be doing an episode on "the boots"? My Dad didn't talk much of his war time experiences but had a funny little story about paratrooper boots. Soldiers were held in very high reverence, that wore a pair. The want-a-be's that somehow acquired a pair were often treated to a "blanket party". If I remember correctly, this reverence was covered in the Band of Brothers mini-series.

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

That would definitely be an interesting one to tackle. Thanks!

Need to get a good paratrooper wrist compass used on d day!

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Me too!

I love these episodes JD! Two things, the gloves remind me of going through basic in '84. We stamped our stuff with first initial of last name and last 4 SSN. Second, does anyone know if the scene in "The Longest Day" where the soldier gives the cricket signal and German soldier cocks his rifle with two clicks....Is that a real story? I've always wondered if that happened. It's probably Hollywood, which is bad on such an historic presentation.

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, that's a Hollywood creation. Good movie though :)

@michae8jackson378

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheHistoryUnderground yes it is. A someone who lived in Germany and speaks German I love that they had the subtitles

@kennethmaiforth6460

2 жыл бұрын

If it was true the American would not be alive to tell the story

To be honest, I think once you step into Eric's collection, you go from being a full grown man to being a very overgrown boy in a candy shop. I would want to click it also 😂

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

100%

@3:48 anyone else thinking joe toye on band of brothers talking about killing hitler? 😂

Another great video, what would be a interesting video is how do you tell fake from real artefacts'

I was today years old when I learned that a cricket wasn't a frog.

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, The Longest Day has misled a lot of people on that one.

You make me laugh! As far as grown men (and maybe some women) go, clicking the cricket, I would think, would be on anyone's list.

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

100%

Last comment (sorry JD but this is too good a video!) I can’t help myself. Top brass new the 82nd airborne were attached to the 101st for the DDay invasion, why would they not give 82nd the crickets too? I know from reading first hand accounts that many from the 82nd connected with 101s after landing in the wrong DZ. They likelihood of a 101 shooting an 82nd definitely exists if they couldn’t answer the cricket. “Flash” and “Thunder” will only go so far…scary huh?

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

I actually don't have an answer to that. With them operating in the same general area, it seems like they would have outfitted everyone with the same gear. Perhaps there was a limited number of supplies.

@1psychofan

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheHistoryUnderground I think some from the 82nd did have the crickets, because I have some memoirs of men who served with my great grandfather and Vandivort….some of them mention the crickets. So I think your right…only some got them. Those who went in first maybe. My grandfather landed about 35 minutes after the pathfinders (if what I’m told is correct-we think it is) per the 82nd airborne museum

The clicker co still makes them.

I would click the cricket too.😜🦗

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Ha! How could you not?

Do I understand Erik correctly, that the switchblade knife was originally created for the 101 airborne?

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

No, but the spring loaded version was utilized for them.

@1psychofan

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheHistoryUnderground cool!

Today we deploy the reserve parachute to climb down a tree ...

Is this all the stuff put in their leg bag they promptly lost because of prop blast during the Normandy invasion? :)

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Ha! There was a lot of stuff that got lost in those leg bags.

@brian96597

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheHistoryUnderground As always, excellent video. Thank you!

(VC) indeed

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

👍🏻

around 3000 were nickle the other 7000 were brass and not all of those 7000 were machines brass even made out of simple sheet metal btw that clicker in the video is a real ACME clicker but not one from ww2

Did he say Acme? As in the same Acme that Wil E Coyote uses???

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Ha!

still want to know why, in the Longest day movie they downplayed the 101st Airborne so much by only referring to them as the "One Oh One" and all dumpy slovenly looking soldiers who seemed substandard to the 82nd Troopers

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Good question.

One could say that was cLiCk bait...I wouldn't say that, but one could...

@TheHistoryUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

I assume that you’re referring to the cricket 😄

@Fowlgun

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheHistoryUnderground Yes and i would have click it too!😀