Thursday, March 24, 2011

An Introduction to Arnhem Jim's Blog


Welcome and Slàinte Mhòr! (Great Good Health!), I’m hoping that with this blog I will be able to share both my interests and limited knowledge with others who may share similar interests. As a child growing up I acquired an avid interest in toy soldiers, more specifically W. Britains toy soldiers. For some reason I had the presence of mind to keep care of them in good condition, even to the extent of saving them all in their original boxes. When I went away to college, and subsequently during a tour of active duty in the Navy, my parents had the patience and foresight to keep the collection in tact.

As an adult my interests expanded to the collection of militaria, including the 92nd Gordon Highlanders and the Parachute Regiment of the British Army. As a reserve naval intelligence officer my focus evolved around the World War II Battle of Arnhem (Operation Market-Garden) and the tragic, but heroic, action fought by the British 1st Airborne Division. My reasons for this interest can be found in this blog on the page entitled. “Operation Market-Garden”. For some it may prove more than you ever wanted to know, hopefully for others, it will bring an entirely new insight to a battle which remains not that well known here in the United States.

As a collector, for now over six decades, my nature has tended to be what others define as a “magpie”, which has resulted in a fairly broad variety of items in my collection. In order to know a little bit about a wide range of artifacts, and with my military training, I learned quite early of the importance of building and maintaining a fairly extensive reference library.

Even with the acquisition of knowledge, like most others, I have been “burned” more than once, by individuals trying to make a fast buck off someone else’s ignorance. In an attempt to help other collectors avoid some of the pitfalls and tank-traps that exist in the hobby, a few years ago I published, and continue to maintain, several guides on e-Bay. As a direct result of the apparent popularity of those guides, I have decided to initiate this blog duplicating and incorporating those guides, and hopefully providing a forum where I, as well as others, can share knowledge and experiences, such that we can all gain new wisdom.

Comments are most welcome, and may be left by scrolling to the bottom of the page looking for either the open Comments window, or the word "COMMENTS". With your cursor on the word click and it will open a page for comments.


Best Regards,
Arnhem Jim

A Scottish Regimental Toast (48th Highlanders of Canada; affiliated with the Gordon Highlanders)
Commanding Officer:
A Mhàidseir na pìoba, òlamaid deoch-slàinte!
(Pipe Major, let us drink a toast)
Pipe Major's reply:
A h-uile latha a chì 's nach fhaic, an dà fhicheadamh 's a h-ochd gu bràth! Slàinte
don Bhànrigh! Slàinte Mhòr! Slàinte!
(Every day that I see you, or that I don't see you, the 48th forever! Health to the Queen!
Great good health! Health!)

10 comments:

Lambert de Sousa said...

Congratulations on your Blog. And a very interesting and effective tool in the dissemination and collection of Hobby.

Good luck!

Lambert

blazer badges said...

yes great post and theblog is amazing i love military and enjoy reading a great deal thankyou

Paul Bultitude said...

Jim, A great site as I am an Arnhem nut too, with books, medals memorabilia and a complete 1/30 scale army. I would also like to share the following: On the anniversary last year the local radio station here in Tasmania interviewed a gentleman who was in the first drop;I could hardly believe it and subsequently followed up and have since met with this veteran. He is John Bellamy and he is 95 and lives just 3 hours from me here in Tasmania. He has an incredible story having enlisted in 1939 and survived drops in north Africa, Sicily, Italy and finally Arnhem where he was captured and sent to a POW camp and nearly starved to death. His recollection is very good and when going through some of my books he would comment on various officers and people he knew at the time. He firmly believes that they didn't stand a chance being dropped so far from the objective and with the failure of the intelligence on the Panzers in the area being ignored. I keep in touch with him now and am trying to locate a copy of his book :"Showers on Thursday" which is out of print. I will add more to this in due course but thought you and your followers would be interested. Regards Paul

Nick said...

Jim I have 4 lance tips one from the 5th, one that has no. 1 I. P. co ILG 1917 below the date 47, one a very notched that 5 2 and stake hole through the very end, and another with no1 I.P. below that (spear turned on its side) M&C 1917. have you any info on these?
Nick at ozusmvmcga@yahoo.com

Arnhemjim said...

Hello Nick,
Am not quite certain why you placed your comment here, as I believe you were discussing the information contained in the following article; http://arnhemjim.blogspot.com/2011/03/british-pattern-1868-cavalry-lance-at.html . Have seen various markings on both authentic and reproduction lance-heads, but unfortunately don't have any detailed file information. I do think some real "liberties" have been taken on the markings of replicas. The British Ordnance LoCs (List of Changes) related to lances, that I'm aware of, don't provide any specific direction regarding markings. Aside from original manufacturer's markings, it would appear that such markings were a direct prerogative of the individual regiments. Apologies for not being of more assistance.
Regards,
Arnhem Jim

Arnhemjim said...

Hello again Nick,
Your query peaked my curiosity. You may find a bit more information on the following forum site page; http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=14929 .
Regards,
Jim

Bryn van Nuissenburg said...

Jim, congratulations on your blog. Great site.

Frank Mazer said...

Hello Arnhem Jim, I am not really into blogging thusfar, let's hope this works out, and you can read my text :-) I would like to buy an original AAC badge. Can you please give me tips and tricks to make sure I buy a genuine one? Thanks in advance for your answer. Best regards, Frank

Arnhemjim said...


Hello Frank,
Thank you both for your interest in the blog page, as well as your query in regard to obtaining a genuine WWII British Army Air Corps cap badge. As you well know the same badge was used by the Glider Pilot Regiment well after the end of WWII when it was replaced by a very similar badge which turned the eagle from facing right to left, omitted the letters ACC, replaced the laurel wreath with a scroll containing the words “GLIDER PILOT REGIMENT”. Also be aware of a post 1957 variant of the Army Air Corps badge retaining the laurel wreath and the letters AAC, but also reversing the eagle from right to left, and the King’s crown with a Queen’s crown.

Initially thought I had written an article about this, then remembered it was a thread in The British and Commonwealth Military Badge Forum. Although not as well structured as a focused blog page or article, there is a lot of information and more importantly images. I can also get the information back to you more expeditiously;
https://www.britishbadgeforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5368&highlight=Glider+Pilot+Regiment

Honestly I’m personally still somewhat confused over the issue of lugs versus sliders. Maintain Maj Ray Cunningham’s letter which accompanied the badge (with slider) he sent me as provenance. You may find the following article of interest; http://arnhemjim.blogspot.com/2011/03/nothing-is-impossible-glider-pilot.html

Hope you find the information of some assistance, and again thanks for your interest.

Warmest regards,
Arnhem Jim
Arizona Territory

Frank Mazer said...

Hello Arnhem Jim, thank you for your information and keep up your appreciated work with your Blogspot and articles, good stuff!The forum gives me some good ideas where to look for, to obtain an original AAC badge.Thanks again, greetings from The Netherlands! Frank

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