ULTRA RARE WWII Airborne Paratrooper CRICKET 101st 82nd

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WWII D-Day Cricket used by 101st and 82nd Airborne Paratroopers is an original authentic cricket issued in England to Airborne Paratroopers for the Normandy D-Day Invasion on June 6, 1944. I acquired this item from a man who lives in Trois-Ponts, Belguim who regularly hiked the Ardennes forest collecting WWII artifacts as a hobby. He had found a trove of military gear over the years in the Bastogne area w he grew up including helmets marked with the 506th PIR spade. He found this particular cricket in the woods outside of Noville, north of Bastogne, most likely discarded or inadvertently lost by a paratrooper who helped hold the area against the German offensive during the winter of 1944-45. Since this "childs toy" was issued to paratroopers to use as a signalling device in the dark following the D-Day jump, it most likely belonged to a member of the 101st Airborne or the 82nd Airborne Division who deployed to Belguim to fight the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge. As you can see from the photos, the cricket brass is stained and tarnished and the steel blade is pitted from rust. Due to its weatd condition, it doesn't make the click-clack sound anymore. I suppose if I had laid in the woods of Bastogne for 60 cold winters I probably wouldn't click-clack anymore either . Either way, this one is the authentic WWII cricket and no read more

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