This Relco was in the European theather. I want to share a little history. I Know Mel and Greg will appreciate this. I had dinner with Bill last Saturday night and he told me about the war. What started the watch topic was his daughter needed a battery replaced and the jewelers wouldn't do it so, I put one in for her. Thats when he asked if I could I take a look at an old watch of his. I said geez Bill, this watch looks like it went through the war. With a half grin he said "yes, it did".
Bill is 89 today, he was 19 when he enlisted, he was trained as a michine gunner and was part of the second landing at Normandy. Awhile back he came over and we watched Saving Private Ryan. During the landing and advancement on the beach, Bill stated that you see this scene, Hollywood would never be able to reproduce what it was really like. There wasn't enough men and equipment on the beach (he was refering to the casualties).
Three weeks after his landing, he was assigned to Pattens third Army where he went through France and they met up with divisions of Scotts, English and Canadians, all of which he said was a great group of guys. All the while wearing this watch. He was at the Battle of the Bulge where he said they couldn't dig they're fox holes deep enough. During one of the barrages by the Germans, he dove into the fox hole and scraped the crystal. The watch was also part of the liberation of three death camps Dachhu, Buchanwald, and I forgot the third. He showed me pictures of the camps and what you see on TV documentries has been "sanitized" for the viewers.
I said this watch has history to it Bill. He said the commanders had a drawing for the watch before the landing. Bill laughed, he said out of thousands of guys there, he got the watch. He went on to say that he was really lucky to come back in one piece other than losing his hearing to the concusion of the German Train cannon that was 300 yards in front of them at the "bulge". He said that back in those days you move at night and in the morning then you find out where you are..
This Relco was in bad shape. He wanted it leaned up a bit so,I cleaned the crystal and case. He wore the watch on his right hand so the crown is in good shape but the other side is worn down to the brass. Thats all I did, there are still marks on it. He can tell his grand kids where he wore it and there are some marks left to show..The watch runs dead nuts...
Enjoy the watch and the history, here it is one last time.
![[linked image]](http://i1089.photobucket.com/albums/i353/corvetteus81/ralco2-1.jpg)
![[linked image]](http://i1089.photobucket.com/albums/i353/corvetteus81/DSCF0129.jpg)