Forum Meeting!

[Tom Houlihan]

Well, I'm home, and I have the photos downloaded from the camera. Tonight, since Ol' Billy Tucci was in town, I made arrangements for a treat. Shannon came down from Lansing, and we met at Billy's hotel with another friend of his, Scott. I was a wee bit late, but it all worked out in the end.

We visited with Mark Bando tonight. For those of you who don't know, Mark is a preeminent historian of the 101st Airborne. As a matter of fact, he just got back from a month in Afghanistan, chronicling the lineal descendant of a particular company from WWII, so he could write a comparative type book.

Anyway, Billy and Shannon apparently though I was exaggerating a wee bit when I told them that Mark had a museum in his basement. You shoulda seen their faces!!! Ask 'em, I wasn't kidding!!

I think there was more information shared tonight than either of those guys had shared in a long time. Mark was in rare form. He just couldn't seem to stop with the "just let me show you this..." bit!

I've known Mark for about six years now. I've been to his place 3 or 4 times before. I still saw things I hadn't seen before! What's amazing is that he won't just point out an artifact to you. He'll tell you when it was made, when it was issued, when it stopped being issued, and why. Not only that, he usually knows who wore/used/carried it during the war. He knows the guy's full name, rank, specific billet, when he joined the unit, when he was wounded/killed/transferred, or died after the war! The man's powers of recall are phenomenal!

[Tom Houlihan]

Okay, I wasn't entirely sure what I was doing...

The first photo is Mark giving Shannon (Pirate-Drak) and Billy a lesson on hand grenade production and markings, with Scott watching.

Second is Billy, Tom, Shannon, and Mark. The backdrop to that photo is rather interesting. Those aren't just uniforms back there, with insignia attached. Each of those comes from a specific individual. They were their uniforms!! Each has a short bio of the original owner with it. Those are the actual uniforms worn by members of the 101st.

The third photo is Billy with three of his new friends. Mark is the one on the right... That is an actual Luger P.08, Artillery model, made in 1915. Mark has fired it. We wiped the drool off Billy's face before we took the photo.

The last shot is Mark blowing the minds of our two pals with his detailed, intimate knowledge of so many facets of WWII in the ETO. Just to the right of Shannon's head are two ground-dug German helmets Mark dug up.Yes, those footlockers Billy is resting his books on have cool stuff in 'em, too!

I'll let the other two guys have a chance to share their thoughts, now...

[Jim O]

Jealous doesn't even begin to describe...

Living in the south I'd like to just have a basement.

Seriously, I'm glad that you guys got to meet and get educated and have a good time.

[Whiterook]

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!!! I'm with Jim....jealous is an understatement. Can I PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE come to you next gig??????????? Please?

[cyberia]

Great stuff Tom! And I'm jealous as well.

Cool to see you guys gathering like that.

This is why we have to start organizing that trip to Aberdeen. I'll bet we can get 20 or more Zoners there. Tanks, BBQ and beer. What more could we ask for?

[Whiterook]

How cool would that be! An annual get together along the lines of a Veteran's Reunion (no disrepect meant). World War II is such a common theme with us...wouldn't it be wonderful to someday see a yearly gathering, at different parts of the globe. One can dream.

[cyberia]

I think its doable, and worthy of some serious planning.

[Panzermacher]

Green with envy.........

[Pirate-Drakk]

Words can't begin to describe how cool last night was!

Mark Bando's collection was "over the top". I saw stuff and learned things I never even thought about before. His collection is seemingly endless and includes a lot of German stuff as well as the American and in particular the 101st Airborne. It MUST end up in a museum some day with all the details he can provide about the different little things. Certainly a million $$$ or much more in collectibles alone.

Billy Tucci's Sgt. Rock art was also incredible. He is very detail oriented and he and Mark were discussing fine points such as the diameter of the wire on the grenade pins. In the pic with the grenades, Mark was explaining the subtle differences in paint, frag sizes, detonators, and other miniscule details that are impossible to discern unless you have a pile of near identical grenades sitting in front of you! Tucci's art is in the book under the grenades where you will see an upside down Tiger I.

Oh, and did I mention the books and books and books full of unpublished photos that we didn't have the time to begin looking at....

A smattering of Bando's collection is on his web site:
TRIGGER TIME - 101st Airborne WW2

Billy Tucci has this link:
William Tucci - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As you can tell by the smiles, we are having a good time!


For those of you that haven't met Tom in person, he's actually a great guy too and he showed off his WWII historical prowess a few times as well.

I must say, I haven't had so much fun hanging out with "the guys" in a long time!

[cyberia]

Looks like you guys had a blast. Tom asked me to join, but timing was bad this weekend. (kicking myself now)