When I was a kid in the 1950's, some of our treasured family possessions were army blankets that had found their way back to our home after the war. These wool blankets were typical OD US Army types, plus one Australian Army blanket my dad got overseas. Those things wore like iron. They saw daily use on children's beds for many years. The older, more worn examples were substituted for car seat covers in vehicles with ratty upholstery. Later, they got down-graded to emergency blankets in the trunk of a car. Finally, most of them wound up in the family linen closet. Dry cleaned and carefully folded.
Down to the present. I still have all of these blankets. Plus a WW2 USMC blanket that I found in my father-in-law's home when he died. Then there are the OD wool blankets that followed me home during my time in the army. Plus several poncho liners that I got in Vietnam. Plus a couple of old army blankets that were found in various used cars over the years. Then there are a couple of East German Army blankets that I bought because they were very cheap.
So I'm pretty well stocked with wool blankets. Most of the wrong size, because they are made for single person beds.
There was a time when as children, we'd camp out in the back yard in summer. We'd erect tents made of blankets. For tent pegs, we'd use short lengths of scrap wood, and drive those straight through the corner of the blanket and into the ground. Which doesn't do the blanket any good. None of the ex-army blankets show this injury.
One of the blankets, an OD ex-army blanket dated 1940, has my sister's name over-written on the label. She took that to Camp Fire Girls summer camp.
I don't have any idea what a good wool blanket cost in the 1950's. Whatever the cost was, having these blankets saved us from having to pay it.
Don't think of it as theft, think of it as mustering out bonus. Or an earlier version of stimulus in kind.
Down to the present. I still have all of these blankets. Plus a WW2 USMC blanket that I found in my father-in-law's home when he died. Then there are the OD wool blankets that followed me home during my time in the army. Plus several poncho liners that I got in Vietnam. Plus a couple of old army blankets that were found in various used cars over the years. Then there are a couple of East German Army blankets that I bought because they were very cheap.
So I'm pretty well stocked with wool blankets. Most of the wrong size, because they are made for single person beds.
There was a time when as children, we'd camp out in the back yard in summer. We'd erect tents made of blankets. For tent pegs, we'd use short lengths of scrap wood, and drive those straight through the corner of the blanket and into the ground. Which doesn't do the blanket any good. None of the ex-army blankets show this injury.
One of the blankets, an OD ex-army blanket dated 1940, has my sister's name over-written on the label. She took that to Camp Fire Girls summer camp.
I don't have any idea what a good wool blanket cost in the 1950's. Whatever the cost was, having these blankets saved us from having to pay it.
Don't think of it as theft, think of it as mustering out bonus. Or an earlier version of stimulus in kind.
