Mr. Holtz sure knew how to take care of a knife!
Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2022 11:45 am
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.
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.
