A month back we posted this picture to our
Facebook page. It shows a Waterman pen recovered from the recently-excavated wreckage of a WW2 Lancaster bomber, shot down in France on D-Day -- but one of many poignant relics of the lost crew (full story
here).
The excavated pen is a relatively common Canadian-made Waterman model equipped with a rather uncommon clip: an top-mounted "military clip" (allowing the pen to be clipped inside a flap-top pocket, in conformity to military requirements), with the Waterman globe logo prominently displayed on top (and again, smaller, on the side).
Coincidentally, we were recently able to acquire an intact example of the same model, which is shown above. We now know the story of the excavated pen; what stories might this pen tell, if it could speak?
David -
ReplyDeleteAn optical illusion? The clip length seems considerably longer (than say, Sheaffer Balance models) and, it seems, too long to escape the eyes of a sharp-eyed Second Lieutenant hell bent on making inspection difficult. Or was it just long enough to hid under the pocket flap?
In my time in the military, we escaped such "gigs: by simply wearing our pens on the shirt placket, which seemed to cause no offense.
Good question -- but consider that this would have fallen under Canadian/British regs, not US Army.
ReplyDeleteAnd as I recall, the British pocket flaps were pretty deep.