Military Trader

Military Trader and Military Vehicles magazines have been closely tied together for a long time. They’ve been published by the same company and same editors for well over two decades, and more than a few readers subscribe to both publications. Behind the scenes, we’ve contemplated having the magazines join forces for quite some time. That day has finally come, and we couldn’t be more excited! We know it’s going to be a win-win for everybody, and a publication we hope will appeal to everyone who collects and enjoys anything military-related, from dueces and jeeps, to medals and uniforms, and everything in between. For Military Trader magazine subscribers, you will continue to receive your magazine every month like you always have, but it will be about twice as big, with a lot of…

General inducted into Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame Brigadier General Janeen Birckhead, commander of the Maryland Army National Guard, was recently inducted into the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame. Annual inductions were held in March during Women’s History Month. Birckhead, a native of Snow Hill, Md., began her military career with a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps college scholarship. She graduated from Hampton University, a historically Black university in Virginia, in 1991. Birckhead worked in Washington for Sen. Paul Sarbanes from Maryland. She later became a state equal employment manager for the Maryland National Guard before moving on to the U.S. Department of Defense as an agent and then a special agent in charge with the Defense Security Service. She led Maryland’s National Guard troops, as well as thousands of others from across…

Send to: Mail Call c/o Military Trader, 5225 Joerns Dr., Suite 2, Stevens Point, WI 54481 or email: military@aimmedia.com Tyneham story triggers memories from Canada I liked the story about the English village of Tyneham by John Norris. It reminds us that training areas were almost always something else before taken over for military use. In the late 1970s I was a reserve master corporal in a Canadian militia armored regiment. Joining the militia in Canada is an honored civic role for part-time soldiers. In my case, I was at university, and this unit was my father’s and two older brothers’ in turn. That summer I’d been teaching a Jeep reconnaissance crew commanding course, and after those students completed their training, we were named as the enemy, so a course [was set up]…

As someone who has been a “collector” for decades, I’ve seen and even owned some pretty rare pieces. I know collectors who have also managed to find the respective “Holy Grails” of helmets, badges, daggers, rifles, swords, and other sought-after items. I can say it often takes patience, perseverance, and no shortage of “good people skills.” Unfortunately, we collectors may have no lack of perseverance. We’ll continue to seek out items, and at times are practically willing to go to the ends of the Earth to find that item to “fill a hole” in the collection. Patience is often in short supply, however. As collectors, we all often want it yesterday and even then that’s not soon enough. Likewise, I’ll be the first to say that sometimes the people skills go…

A most unusual place Movie directors use different techniques to introduce the main characters to the viewing audience and set the scene, but none can be more unusual than thosed used in the opening scenes of the 1967 blockbuster The Dirty Dozen. The movie begins with convicted soldiers being given a chance to redeem themselves by volunteering for a secret mission. The first big scene, supposedly set at Shepton Mallet prison in Somerset, is very tense and serves to introduce the central characters to the viewer. However, it was actually filmed in a courtyard at Ashridge House in Hertfordshire. That point of detail aside, Shepton Mallet prison, a civilian establishment, exists and can be dated back to the 17th century, a time when it had a notorious reputation for its harsh conditions…

It is estimated that by the spring of 1945 there were almost 400,000 POWs at some 500 locations in the United States and Hawaiian Islands. These included German, Italian, and a very few Japanese prisoners. In Virginia, almost all of the POWs were German. In time, the number of sites with POW compounds grew from the two original designated military camps, Fort Lee and Camp Pickett, to 27 sites scattered throughout the state. The largest population of POWs was at Pickett with 2,436; followed by Camp Patrick Henry with 1,558; Fort Eustis with 1,734; Camp Peary with 1,439; and the Army Service Forces (ASF) Depot with 1,299. As Command Historian and State Historic Collection Coordinator for the Virginia National Guard (VANG), the co-author’s main interest is primarily the prison sites at…