Mr. Holtz sure knew how to take care of a knife!

[SA1911a1]

In my quest for WWII memorabilia, I find it hard to turn down a WWII era nice knife, especially one with a story. I got the following information from Mr. Holtz's obit:

The owner was one of Jim's neighbors from the city. He dropped out of college to volunteer for the Army in early '42. He served in N. Africa, Sicily, Naples, Southern France and ended up in Germany. In the process he picked up a Bronze Star and a CIB. I would like to see his service record, but I am not joining a genealogy site to get that access. MR. Holtz did not want anybody to be able to walk off with his knife, thus the markings. (he also engraved his name on the pommel)


PAL only made these knives just prewar and through the war after they acquired the patterns, machinery and rights from Remington, who was concentrating on making ammo. After the war the market was flooded with knives brought home from the military and available as surplus. Pal stayed in business until the early 50s but mainly making pocket knives. This one is an RH-36, the RH is for Remington Hunting, the three indicates a Bowie style, and the 6 is the blade length. Although the Navy did contract for a bunch of them, most troops ended up buying theirs in the base exchange or the PX. This was most likely one of those because it is in a pre-war belt sheath. This had to be the man's go to meeting knife, because is certainly never opened a can of beans; it is as good a shape as you could expect to find on an 80 year old knife.


After the war he became an apparently very successful businessman. He died in 2011, still living in NY. This knife was bought by an ebayer from a flea market.

[tomaustin]

RIP, Mr. Holtz................

[Junk Yard Dog]

Was wondering what happened to Gil, nice to see his knife isn't being used as a tent peg in one of the homeless encampments around the city.

[SA1911a1]

Was wondering what happened to Gil, nice to see his knife isn't being used as a tent peg in one of the homeless encampments around the city.

What happened to him is that he caught a bad case of dead. Apparently his two children didn't give a damn about daddy's old knife. That is OK too, I will honor him by continuing to display his treasure.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Was wondering what happened to Gil, nice to see his knife isn't being used as a tent peg in one of the homeless encampments around the city.

What happened to him is that he caught a bad case of dead. Apparently his two children didn't give a damn about daddy's old knife. That is OK too, I will honor him by continuing to display his treasure.

I have most of the cool old shit I own because of kids and other family members who didn't give a damn. Oh well, more for me. Sometimes it's real financial need, baby's sick and we need the money now, most of the time it's video games and crack/meth are more interesting than grandpa's old junk.