I recall after the end of World War II, perhaps in the fall of 1945 or spring of 1946, traveling with my father from our home in Moriah, New York to his mother's home in nearby Port Henry, located on Lake Champlain, to see his brother, Uncle Ned, who had returned from World War II service in Europe. The occasion was the arrival of perhaps two wood crates that Ned had shipped from Germany back to Port Henry. Other brother David may have also been present.
I clearly remember the open crates with the parallel barrels of long guns. While I don't recall all of the weapons included, there were at least two Mauser K98k's, one of which went to my father and one retained by Uncle Ned. Eventually both went through conversion to sporting rifles with bluing and hand made and hand checkered stocks. I have my fathers, a beautiful job on a DOU 44 rifle with mis-matched numbers (and I have to admit I very much wish it were still in its orginal military configuration with matching numbers). Uncle Ned's was also rebarreled to .220 Swift to become a wood chuck gun.
Also in the crates was Mauser pistol of the 1910 variety and I don't recall the exact Model and there was a Luger S42 1937 and a P38. These pistols, Luger included and well as other World War II memorablilia, are in the hands of Uncle Ned's daughter, my cousin, who resides in Minnesota.
But, there's more. In the crates was a Schmeisser machine pistol; I think. It was the kind that had the magazine sticking out to the right of the receiver. There were two bipod mounted machine guns, one belt fed and one fed form a drum mounted on top of the receiver. The belt fed gun was probably an MG42.
These automatic weapons had been sent from Germany to Uncle David who was then a teen ager and were registered in his name. They had their barrels welded by folks at Watervliet Arsenal which is near Albany, New York.
Now, fast foward to the 1960's and 1970's. The machine pistol is not in the best of condition, so Uncle Ned, then residing in Cleveland simply put it out in the weekly garbage pickup. Neighborhood children spotted it and were shortly playing war games with it. Understandably, this bought the BATF to Uncle Ned's door. I was not there but I assme the conversation went on about the machine pistol with no mention of the two bipod mounted machine guns, now lightly coated with rust sitting in the attic.
Now, fast forward to the middle to late 1990's. Uncle Ned died in 1982. Aunt Elaine resides in their log cabin near Cabot, Vermont and she asks Uncle David, now retired in Keeseville, New York to meet her at a between location. He does. There, she opens her trunk and gives him both machine guns.
Uncle David is now embarked on the "How do I get rid of them effort, an effort backed up by little knowledge, but he does learn that, believe it or not, they are both still registered with BATF still in his name. He considers dropping them in the deep water of Lake Champlain and he ends up giving them to a museum. The museum, it develops, cannot keep them. He takes them back and turns them in to the nearby New York State Police Post.
And there went thousands of dollars in usable parts. If I had only known or had been living close enough to have gotten involved..............
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