Cool WWII Bring Backs: The Robert Kepler Edition
World War II Bring Backs
Hey guys, check out this assembly of items that were brought back from World War II by Robert Kepler. This is among my favorite videos whenever I do vet bring backs I'm just honored to be able to show you some of the things that the vets brought back and a little bit about the story that he told when he came home from the war. So again, this was all brought back by Robert Kepler, along with his uniform. I'll let Randy pan over here we've got actually two uniforms. I'm going to talk about that. But let's talk a little bit about Robert Kepler.
Thank you David
First of all, he grew up just a little bit north of here. We're in Philly, north is up, so up there. He is about an hour north, he grew up there, and his son brought all this to us. His son David, lives in Allentown. I've talked about the Allentown Gun Show and so he lives in Allentown, and again about an hour north of here. He brought all this from his dad.
Who was Robert Kepler?
His dad served in the US Army in the 80th Infantry Division, which was part of Patton's Third Army. He did not participate in the invasion of Normandy, but soon thereafter, he joined the Union as a replacement, part of the Big Red One. We'll talk a little bit more about that.
An 80th Infantry Division Map
If we look at one of the maps that he has right over here, this is from the 80th Infantry Division, by the way, they were nicknamed the Blue Ridge division. You'll see that patch right here, the Blue Ridge patch, and that's also on his uniform and his shirt. You can see they started off from England, South Hampton and they came in and Normandy. It looks like Omaha Beach. They then went south in France, they bypassed Paris, which was right here, but this peninsula here, there was a lot of German troops that were trapped in this area, and they took over 100,000 prisoners when they cut them off in this area right here. They then headed through South Southern France. So we're talking about late 1944. They're going through southern France, when all of a sudden they get the call to go north. And do you know why?
History Lesson - Why did they have to go north?
Well, of course, if you know your history, you know the Battle of the Bulge. Here's Bastogne, we know the story that the Germans counter attacked and caught off guard right around Christmas. So December of 1944, Battle of the Bulge happened right here. The 101st Airborne Division was encircled in Bastogne and Patton.
Memorabilia's from the Reunions
Right over here, this also belonged to Robert Kepler. He went to a lot of the reunions for his unit. And I'm sure he got this at one of the reunions where they were giving these out. And also he got this plate from one of his reunions and talks about where they were, so he had this plate that he brought back and hung on the wall. This also has a hanger on the back. So this was hung on the wall. We'll get back to Patton's prayer, but His unit was here in Southern France. And they said we need somebody to come up and rescue the 101st airborne. So as you know, Patton made a B-line he brought the infantry and his mechanized mechanized armor brigade and they relieved Bastogne. Now Bastogne, that's where this prayer comes in.
Write me a prayer chaplain
Again, if you watch the movie Patton, you'll see that General Patton they were having a hard time getting there because it was snow and ice, mud. And they couldn't do any drops. They couldn't drop any supplies to the 101st, all the men that were trapped. And so he went to the chaplain and said, hey, write me a prayer to the Almighty. And so this is the prayer and all the men were given a copy of this.
It was a miracle!
The gist of it is he says to God, why have you abandoned us? I mean, whose side are you on anyway? We're trying to fight and all you're giving me is bad weather. At the end, he says, just give me four days of clear weather and I'll make this happen. And so that was his prayer. They call it the miracle of Patton's prayer, because the next day, the sun came out and they were able to drop supplies. We'll say more about that. But well, most importantly, the fighters and bombers were able to come in and take on the Germans, but they also resupplied the 101st with food and clothing and medical supplies that were desperately needed.
Robert Kepler's Uniforms
Let me go to, again is Robert Kepler. Let me go to his uniforms. He does have a white scarf over here. I'm going to talk about that. This was the blue scarf that went with the blue the Blue Mountain Brigade. You can see that he was a private. You also see these unit citations, I'll talk about those a little bit. And you can see an honorable discharge, and I'll talk about the different awards and medals that he got when I read his story that was written by his son.
The Big Red 1
You see the big red 1. So as being part of the big red one, I believe this is the shoulder braid, for that Presidential Unit Citation. So this is a Presidential Unit Citation, everybody in that unit got this shoulder braid. But he also, when the war was over, he stayed in Germany and it was over a year later, the Nuremberg Trials, he was also a part of the Nuremberg trials and this is a Unit Citation. I believe, I might have a mixed up, I actually searched on the internet and had a hard time finding these, but I believe this is for the Nuremberg trials and this is the Unit Citation, Presidential Unit Citation.
The Second Uniform
Now interestingly, this uniform behind here, this just came in recently along with this, so this is his shirt. And by the way, you can see a 14" neck and 32" waist is skinny guy, but we all were back then weren't we. He was a young guy when he served in 1944. You can see the Blue Ridge Mountain Brigade and the big red 1. There's his shirt and his jacket. Interestingly, five years before this came in, this man came to our office, and he has the same blue onward and upward badge, has the same Unit Citation.
He has the same Infantry Badge, infantry rifle medal, similar ribbons. Now I believe he's a sergeant, you see the big red 1. He is not part of the Blue Ridge Mountain. But this guy was about 6'2" tall and thin, he was about 90 years old when he came in. He brought this uniform and said, would you be interested in buying my uniform? I said, don’t you have anybody in the family who wants it? And he goes, no, nobody wants it. And I said, well, we'd be honored to have it. So I paid him for the uniform and I put it up here in a place of honor. We've had it here ever since. And five years later, the son of this man brought us this uniform, so I think they go well together, don't you?
Now for the white scarf
Okay, I mentioned the blue scarf, which was part of the uniform but there's also this scarf, this white scarf, and this has great significance. He was awarded this scarf and this is in his own handwriting. So this is Robert Kepler's handwriting before he died in 1983. He passed away at the age of 57, which is way too young. I'm not sure of the circumstances but he died at age 57 in 1983.
Kepler's Handwritten Note
This is a handwritten note about this scarf. And he said this white scarf was made from a parachute drop in Bastogne, Belgium in December of 1944, as part of the effort to supply the 101st airborne paratroopers. These scarves were made up after the war and given to the men of the 80th Infantry Division because of the rescue of the men that were trapped in Bastogne. It was also given to the 4th Armored Division men. So he was given this and held on to it, but this is the scarf. And it is silk and made out of the parachutes that were used to drop supplies the 101st. It was made up by those in the 101st as a thank you for coming to our rescue.
He had white gloves too
Also of significance are these white gloves, they look a lot like my white gloves. And by the way, I was able to put these on. These were given to him at when he was a guard at Nuremberg, they did wear white gloves, and that was part of his uniform for Nuremberg.
I want to read you a letter from his son
Now we can go through the rest of this pretty quickly and then I'll read a letter from his son. Let me talk about the guns first and foremost, and then I'll go through some of the rest of this.
Don't start with the snarky comments
This holster was obviously made in theater. I believe that this looks German this buckle looks German, this looks distinctly American so I'm not sure who did this. But I believe that this was made in Germany after the war. Whenever I talk about vet bring backs I always get some snarky person who says you mean stolen and I get really tired of that comment. Mostly because the majority of the things that I see brought home from by the families brought here were picked up after the war and were bought as souvenirs. Again, the Germans were selling anything they could to revive their economy and quite frankly pay for food and clothing. And so they sell things like this to the veterans. This of course was handmade in the theater, probably after the war. I'm convinced that he did not take this from a German captive, but instead purchased it as a souvenir.
A 1917 DWM
You can see it is a 1917 artillery. The artilleries are also considered the parabellum long barrel, 1917 DWM, so it would have been World War I. It's distinct because of the longer barrel, 9mm, longer barrel and also the artillery sights, which just allows for, in meters 100, 200, 300, all the way up to 800. That's the adjustable rear sight. And also the front sight is adjustable. If you look right here, there is a tool it has 2x in it where you just put that in the hole and you can adjust the front sight and the rear sight. It is all matching and all original. We talked before about one way to know original finishes, you look for halos here. And sure enough, you see the halos pretty distinctly. There's some wear on the front strap and the back strap. That's pretty typical I said before, that's where you get most of your wear due to sweating of the hands and holding it and not wiping it off. But otherwise, it's in really, really good shape.
Stop screaming at me, this is how he brought it home
Now they started making these in 1914. Here's a picture of a 1914. That's the rarest of all, they made only a few hundred. So the 1914 artillery is the rarest and then the '15, '16, '17; '16 and '17 are the most common and then they stopped in 18. So these were made from '14 to '18. And this is the most common year, the 1917. So I'm convinced he picked this up right after the war was over as a souvenir. And this is the magazine which does not go with this gun. But this is the way he brought it home. Those of you who watch my videos regularly you already know and you're yelling at the screen right now, because it's supposed to have a wood bottom. That's right World War I DWM has to have a wood bottom. It doesn't. But again, this is the way he brought it home. It has the aluminium bottom and it is by the way, Eagle 63 which is probably more like 1938.
A Steyr model 1908
The second gun probably has a little more history to it. And I will read you that directly from the son David. He talks about this gun, he said my father personally talked about this gun. This is a Steyr, I believe it's a model 1908. These were often used as Officer Guns in World War I. So it's a World War I era gun, however, this one was made in 1921. Let's see that right here, 1921. It's in remarkable condition. So again, a Steyr model 1908 made in 1921. And this was taken by Robert from a German soldier who was surrendering and I'll read you that story. But the German soldier had this on his person and he was surrendering and this was personally taken by Robert Kepler. This is the holster that goes with it. It does have a brass stud which is early, it has an extra magazine, an odd looking magazine. I'll show you how this works because this is not a gun we come across very often. Again, brass fittings. And that's probably the original holster that goes with the gun.
How does this Steyr work?
Now let's check out how this works. This lever right here, notice the fire blue, beautiful fire blue, beautiful bluing on it and look at the front strap, just incredible condition not re-blued it's all original. The easiest thing let's remove the magazine. I always catch myself with these gloves but it's worth it on a gun like this. I don't want to put any salty sweat on it. All I have to do is push this down, this pops out and you can see it's a unique design. Usually the finger extension is here so you can pull it out easier. And actually it was a little awkward, they improved upon that later. That's going to catch my finger every time but that's the magazine, it's in 7.65 Check this out. So this lever, hope I can do this this way. Yeah, there you go. Pops right open, let's do that again. That was actually pretty cool. This lever will pop it open. You won't be able to see it but I can see the bore is just absolutely beautiful. It's a nice shiny boar with strong rifling. This then is easy to take apart because all you do is pull that back. I'm not going to do that because the spring will fly out and then it'll delay my video. But so it cocks like that, very simply. Actually, that's similar action to like the 22 caliber Walthers, I'm thinking the target guns, they'll have that little section back here that separates from the rest of the gun. And again 7.65 and easily pops open to clean it. It's a great design. Yeah, that'll come off, just pop right off. But a great little design and a nice little carry piece in beautiful condition brought back by Robert Kepler and this gun was taken from a German soldier.
Ready for the rest of stuff
Okay, I'm ready for the rest of the booty. These are his hats, so I'm not going to say much about that. But you see the blue piping, these are the hats and again, he was just a private he had several of these. And I'm going to go through this, but I'm going to read from the words of his son, David. David was the middle child. So I commiserate with you. I was the middle child and we get totally neglected. But David was the middle child and brought this in on behalf of the whole family and sold it to Legacy Collectibles and really wanted to see it get into the hands of a collector who would really honor and cherish the service of his dad, but also make this as a focal point in their collection. And I'm sure somebody will. So let me read from David's words about his father.
In his son's words
Robert Kepler was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and he died in November of 1983 at the age of 57. He lived most of his life in Coopersburg, Pennsylvania. He was married to Mildred and had two sons and one daughter. Kepler was a veteran of World War II and served as a member in General George Patton's Third Army. He was a heavy machine gunner in N company 80th Infantry Division nicknamed the Blue Ridge division. He held the Combat Infantry Badge three Battlestars, including the [inaudible 17:02], and the Battle of the Bulge. He was also awarded a Bronze Star for meritorious achievement in ground operations against the enemy in the European theater of operations during the Rhineland campaign. Also, for nine months after the war, he served as a guard in the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg, Germany during the war crimes trials, Kepler was witness to the Buchenwald concentration camp after the 6th Armored Division liberated it. He and the 80th division several weeks later pushed through Austria and liberated Ebensee, another camp that housed about 16,000 prisoners. He had a photo scrapbook, which I foolishly suggested to my mother that she donate to the 80th Division archives, wherein he had many photos taken during the war, especially photos of the horrors of the concentration camp. I attempted to find the photo book but was unsuccessful to relocate it. During World War II, the 80th Division had a total of 17,000 casualties and about 3500 deaths in battle. My father was one of the lucky ones.
David lists the items his dad brought home
Now I'm going to read from this list of the items he brought home and it's remarkable that we have pretty much every item here. First he brought home a Hitler used knife that was from the early period with a motto blood in honor. So we'll take a look at that this is actually the scabbard all original got somewhere here. Beautiful leather at the top. And you can see there it has been sharpened and it does say blood and honor. It has the leather catch still here or more like a stop to so it's a soft stop hitting the metal. On the other side you will see the RZM marking and also the maker mark. All original Hitler used knife.
An un-issued pith helmet
Next he brought home a second pattern pith helmet, un-issued dated 1942. We've shown these before. And we've sold these on our site. This is in an issued condition. You can tell by the leather inside. I've often commented that these can't be real these must be reproduction because they look brand new. But evidently Germany had a lot of these. We've had three others where the vets said they would just go to local shops and they had un-issued ones that were brand new condition and the vets would bring them home as a souvenir because they're very cool. And they do signify the Africa Corps, which under Rama was a very storied unit as well. He also brought home this helmet and that is mentioned in the letter. This is a police helmet. He mentions that and he also says this is an unissued condition. So again, he purchased this unissued condition you can tell from the leather and I wanted to show you this clasp because I thought it was unique I've not seen this before. Not seen, get it not seen. This is a not seen helmet. This clasp does have a maker on it and just pushes down and pops in here. And once again, I catch my glove, but it pops in there very easily. So that's very cool and issued condition. That's the police Eagle. And so he brought this home as a souvenir. Again, I'm assuming he bought it after the war was over.
Field Binoculars
Next he mentions field binoculars, German Field binoculars, and this is [inaudible 20:37]. And you can see I'll undo this. These are not high quality binoculars, so probably were carried by a lower ranking officer. But there you see the maker and actually that's a maker code here. And they're a little foggy. Now somebody did scratch a number here. Not sure the significance of that. But again, they're not high quality binoculars but worthwhile as part of this assembly. '
A double-sided Parade Flag
He also brought home a double sided parade flag. This is double sided means there's a swastika on both sides and I just use this as a table cover.
The Steyr Model 1908, again
He brought back the Steyr, a model 1908 pistol. And I showed you that but let me read what he said. This was taken from a German prisoner of war, my father was searching him and felt something in his crotch. So I'll rephrase that and say that there was something on the inside of his thigh. He felt it. He took it from him and it was this pistol that was strapped to his inner thigh. He says my father told me the story personally and he said, I likely saved the life of a soldier who was going to march the prisoners of war back to the rear. Basically, he was implying that when you have one soldier escorting a thousand prisoners, you can easily pull out a pistol, and so he had this hidden on his person. We certainly don't know his intent, but he does indicate that this was hidden on the person of a German soldier who was surrendering.
9mm Luger
The next thing he mentions is the 9mm artillery Luger which I've already covered. He gives a serial number of the Luger in this letter.
The Uniforms, again
This is his uniform jacket worn at the Nuremberg trials along with a blue scarf that designated his infantry division. And also a white a white scarf, which was made from us parachute drops on Bastogne in Belgium. This was done in order to resupply the 100 and first airborne paratroopers who are trapped behind enemy lines. The scarves were made up after the war and given to the men of the 80th Division because of the rescue of the man, they were also given to the 4th Armored Division, which I already mentioned. And then he says I have a handwritten note by my father that spells this out. I believe these scarves are extremely rare and quite valuable. The note was found on the interior pocket of his uniform jacket.
Kepler's White Gloves
Also, I have here his white gloves that were worn during the trials.
Many thanks to Robert and David
All of this is signed, I'm going to cover that up it is signed by David Kepler and dated 2021. I'm covering that out to obviously protect his privacy. So you guys don't show up at his door and say, hey, what else you got? Finally, his son provided the obituary. We don't see him in his uniform or what he looked at, like as a younger man. I want people to remember me as when I was younger and handsome and virile, but this is a picture of what he looked like at age 57 when he passed away. Robert, thank you for your service to our country. And David, thank you for preserving it by bringing it here and making sure that it stays as an honored assembly in tribute to those who served.