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Peak Doughboy
From a shot received by the Signal Corps in April 1919– some 105 years ago this month. Official caption: “Squad in Heavy Marching Order with overcoat and an extra blanket. Classification Camp,...
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Warship Wednesday, April 10, 2024: Mongolia by way of Massachusetts
Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own,...
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Beauty, in Commercial C96 Small Ring Format
Got a chance to spend some time with this beauty lately. Pre-WWI commercial C96 models generally have a serial number that falls into the 30,000 to 274,000 range, and the VL&D marked pistol that...
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Warship Wednesday (On a Thursday) April 18, 2024: Return for the Taxpayer
Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own,...
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Speaking of ANZAC
With ANZAC Day upon up– the national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that broadly commemorates all Diggers and Kiwis “who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping...
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Devil’s Brigade Loadout
How about this great photo spread from 80 years ago. Forcemen of the “Devil’s Brigade,” the U.S.-Canadian First Special Service Force— Sergeant Charles Shepard (6-2), Lieutenant Henry H. Rayner (5-2...
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Museum Tin Can Upgrades
We’ll always cover museum ships here on the blog and a pair of preserved greyhounds have some important recent updates. First, the USS Kidd (DD-661)— one of just three Fletchers on display in the U.S....
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Warship Wednesday, May 1, 2024: A Wandering Dutchman
Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own,...
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Anyone seen Shane MacGowan’s Lee-Enfield?
If you recall, Irish folk singer Shane MacGowan of The Pogues recently passed just before last Christmas. Sadly, Shane’s gun is missing and MacGowan’s widow, Victoria Mary Clarke, is seeking its quiet...
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Big Mark, Back and Better Than Ever
The circa 1918 Mark VIII Heavy “Liberty” Tank was a rarity. At some 37 tons, they were massive, designed to carry a pair of 57mm QF 6 pounders and up to five M1917 Browning water-cooled 30.06 machine...
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The Last American Dreadnought
How about this amazing original Kodachrome, snapped 80 years ago today, showing the Iowa-class fast battleship, USS Missouri (BB-63) commissioning ceremonies, at the New York Navy Yard, on 11 June...
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A Tough Nut to Crack
Some 105 years ago. The Danish Royal Life Guard (Den Kongelige Livgarde) Musical Corps, 13-15 June 1919, pictured just after the Great War. A proud regiment of a proud military, the Danish Army had...
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A Strange Tale of Two Multi-Flag Dreadnoughts
Some 105 years ago this month, check out these two snapshots of brand-new battleships under construction on two different sides of Europe. Ordered by two doomed empires with the very likely prospect...
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Yankee Sub Chasers Walking the Beat
Official caption, February 1919: “American troops in Fiume, Hungary [today Rijeka, Croatia], aboard a Yankee ‘Submarine Chaser.’ In the harbor of Fiume, members of [the] 332nd U.S. Infantry, stationed...
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CMP has M1903 Springfields & M1917 Enfields on Hand (with Krags on the Way!)
This U.S. Volunteer, photographed in Tampa in 1898, preparing to ship out for points south in the War with Spain, is carrying the distinctive Krag It seems the returns from old VFW and American Legion...
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Irony, Independence Day 1918
SMLE-armed Pvt. Harry Shelley, Co A, U.S. 132nd Infantry Regiment, 33rd “Prairie” Division receives the British Distinguished Conduct Medal from King George V, for his 4 July 1918 actions in the...
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The Literary Ghost of ATM
Here we see a great shot of the Wickes-class flush-deck “four stacker” USS Mahan (Destroyer # 102) at anchor during the early 1920s, following conversion to a light minelayer. The round Mine Force...
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Warship Wednesday, July 17, 2024: Under Four Flags
Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own,...
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Casques Bleus
20 July 1918 – Corre (Haute-Saône), African-American U.S. Soldiers under French command undergo training in the infirmary, working with a field stretcher. Gustave Alaux/ECPAD/Defense Ref.: SPA 42 IS...
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Everlasting Konstantinovs
An ancient 2-inch Konstantinov unguided rocket set up before Russian trenches, likely on the Caucus Front, circa 1915-1916. Designed in the early 1850s by Lt. Gen. Konstantin Konstantinovich...
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