FP's used in armed forces during WWII?

February 12, 2014

Hello All, I've followed and checked in on this topic on a irregular basis, was disappointed at the digressions and reliance on single sources. Poor scholarship at best, intentionally inflammatory at the worst, but I digress. I recently was gifted a WWII Parker 51 with the name of the Lieutenant who used it. I found his obituary through a search and then found his war records in the National Archives. He was in France and Germany in WWII and I would imagine carried the pen there and back, but I have no proof. As I recall the pen was made in 1944. I think a wide variety was used, I know my Grandfather used a Waterman he was gifted upon graduation from high school, I have some of his letters. I hope this was informative to those who are interested in the topic, cheers, John

February 12, 2014

Fountain pens were personal property. The Esterbrook Dollar Pen would have been popular. I think an Army sergeant

was paid $55 per month. A $7 Parker would have been a big purchase. I wonder whether fountain pens spent much

time in the field. They are relatively fragile. You might find an FP in an officer's personal gear. The pen provided in an

office would have been a "dip pen". A soldier in the field would likely carry a pencil.

Even in the 1970's, my fountain pen stayed in my personal pen/pencil box, in my quarters. When flying, I had a steel

clipboard strapped to my thigh. It held two wooden pencils. Military ops can be hard on a fountain pen.

February 12, 2014

People wrote with what they had, and sometimes what they had was a top-of-the-line fountain pen. As for being "in the field," it should be added that a large number of soldiers and sailors and for that matter aviators weren't facing enemy fire all the time. Because of the way modern war is organized, many never heard a shot fired in anger, and of those who did, there were moments in quarters as well as moments in foxholes or exchanging fire at sea. When I was younger I was told that sailors tended to read a lot. Some of them also wrote letters a lot. In quiet moments.

A note about the 1940s that may not occur to people who didn't live through the time: what now seem to us expensive fountain pens were a lot more affordable then than they would be now, at prices corrected for inflation. That's because many *other* expenditures we now consider ordinary and even necessary couldn't be made.

No car to pay for, no new refrigerator, not much pleasure travel, hardly any long-distance calls, not much meat, movies for less than a dollar. You could buy alcoholic beverages and you could gamble. For that set of reasons, it was possible for many ordinary people who could cut back on those dissipations to save money, start a business or enter a profession, and move up from working class to middle class after the war.

February 12, 2014

"In a book I read on the American POW experience under the Japanese during the first part of WWII, prisioners were seached and watches-rings-fountain pens or any valuable were snapped up quickly. According to the author, Parkers and Sheaffers were especially prized. Any reluctance or attempt to "hide" the objects were met with brutal beatings, bayoneting and later in the march to the POW camps, death if found.
This post has been edited by hardyb: 17 June 2012 - 07:13 PM"

I read another book (Crimes and mercies, by the canadian author James Bacque), where German prisoners in US and Allied POW camps were not only "seached and watches-rings-fountain pens or any valuable were snapped up quickly", but were moreover starved to death. From 1.5 to 2 million german soldiers found death in the allied camps "after" the war...

James Bacque did a scientific work. It is based only on US Army data, because soviets did not disclose theirs...
You british... You dispute the tone and implications... Ha ha ha !

Actually, he's not disputing your tone but the very meaning of your assumptions.

Bacque was the first to get access to Soviet archives on this. And his work concerns first and foremost german prisoners of war in Soviet camps, not that much in US or British ones. So your point is incorrect.

We should also remember that Soviet mistreatment of German soldiers and civilians was largely a reprisal for the extermination of 3.3 - 3.5 million Soviet POWs in German camps and several million, mostly Belorussian and Russian civilians killed by the Nazis during the war. This is not to say that it was a justified reprisal, but just to say that it didn't come out of nowhere.

I suggest you to read the book "Bloodlands" by Timothy Snider for a very balanced account of the events, including crimes against humanity committed by the Soviets against Germans.

[Editied to correct typo]

Edited February 12, 2014 by TassoBarbasso

June 6, 2014

Dear Tassobagasso,

I see you had no options to read the book I cited. Instead of citing fool statistics why don't you metti un tappo in bocca ?

June 11, 2014

I am next to positive that this is the pen my grandfather used in WWII. He was stationed in the Carolina's somewhere to work on B25's. Knowing him he bought the cheapest pen he could find. This us the pen I use every day at school. It is an Onward.

Edited June 11, 2014 by SuperNib44

June 11, 2014

June 11, 2014

My father was in training at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin starting in late 1942 and into '43. They were shaking out some new tents, and a piece of paper fell out bearing the name and address of one of the girls who had worked in the factory making the tents. He wrote to her; one thing led to another, and you can guess the rest.

Anyway, in her first letter back to him, she complained that her pen wasn't working right and couldn't be repaired. So he went to the PX, bought the best Waterman that they carried, and mailed it to her.

I still have his letters to her. At that time he was using a FP, but I don't know what kind. Unfortunately, that collection of letters stopped when he was shipped to England in late 1943. Her letters to him did not survive the war, although there are some notations in her handwriting on his letters, where she was practicing what would be her married name Girls!

Edit: I think what originally got me interested in FPs was playing with theirs when I was little in the late '40s and early '50s. I don't remember brands, but there were a couple lever-fill pens and a glass-pointed dip pen that absolutely fascinated me. All long gone, unfortunately.

Edited June 11, 2014 by DaveBj

June 12, 2014

My Dad joined the Navy when he was 17 years old, 2 weeks before his 18th birthday in Jan 1944. He was in boot camp and radio school in Farragut, Idaho. Later, in Oregon and California. He wrote home almost everyday to my Grandparents in KS and they saved all the letters in a scrap book. My Dad scanned them about 10 years ago. He wrote them with a fountain pen, a type writer and pencil. I asked him before he passed away about the fountain pens. He remembered using a fountain pen but did not know what brand.

Link to the Letters

Here's some samples:

Blue ink:
http://kd3su.us/genealogy/navy/Tillamook_Air_Station/157.jpg

Red ink:
http://kd3su.us/genealogy/navy/Boot_Training/36.jpg

Green ink:
http://kd3su.us/genealogy/navy/Tillamook_Air_Station/302.jpg

This one looks like black ink :
http://kd3su.us/genealogy/navy/USS_Bagaduce/330.jpg

He said that some guys on the ship he was stationed on bought some of the first ball point pens but they didn't last long and were expensive. He said he stuck with fountain pens and the type writer. I have not read all the letters, he may talk about fountain pens or the ball point pens. I guess I should transcribe them.

In the early 50s he bought my Mother a Snorkel which I still have. She used to write letters with it. When I was in high school he bought me a Targa and he got a silver Sheaffer for himself. I also have some of their Sheaffer ink from the 80s.

Wow, some nice inks and what great memories to have in a scrap book and be passed down from generation to generation. Nice one on still having some of the 80's ink left.