Band of Brothers-Malarky gets his Luger

[Aaron]

I don't have HBO, so I have not yet seen this new video. I'm even two years behind on the Sopranos. Anyway, all this talk brings to mind my dear departed friend Mike Tripp, who passed away about five years ago. Mike was a WWII infantry lieutenant fighting in Germany, and he was also very much a gun lover. In fact, in later years he ran a gun store in Vista, California called "The Cartridge Shop," and many of us collectors used to spend the afternoon sitting around in his shop, drinking coffee and talking guns. He was such a great guy that when little old ladies would walk in with a collectable gun for sale he would let his buddies take the deal. Mike was such a poor businessman that he never had the money to buy them, anyway. I added many a beautiful Luger to my collection that way, to say nothing of some awesome SA Colts. Anyway, Mike claimed that a Luger was such a desireable trophy, that when a group of Germans would surrender, cries would ring out from up and down the line, "Get the Lugers!" and that's what the boys would rip off the prisoners, both the dead ones and the live ones. On the other hand, when the tables were turned and the GIs were captured, you could hear the clanking of Lugers and P-38s hitting the ground all over the place. Getting caught with a Kraut weapon on your person meant instant execution!