I’m a collector of ww2 British militaria, and have run into the “too late to find cheap militaria” wall. I collect ww2 Commonwealth/British military items, and was quite happy to find your website with the abundance of photos of weapons and vehicles. I found a couple of shots of a British 2” mortar that I’m using as a general reference for building a replica for a ww2 British Para display. Do you have any additional close up photos and dimensions for the mortar? I would be greatly appreciated.

Also. I am under the impression that you are based out of Leavenworth , KS . Is this true? I work for defense contracting firm in [deleted for OPSEC], so I’m in town daily. I’d be interested in establishing a militaria based relationship with your and your buddies if possible.

Regards,

{Someone in my Office}
Leavenworth, KS

I responded:

Snerk. Yer gonna be surprised.

John of Argghhh!

He responded thusly:

About what?

Why would he be surprised? Simple. All he had to do when he was writing that email was stand up, step out of his office, turn left, walk ten feet down the hall to the central corridor, turn left, walk 30 feet down to the next corridor, turn right, walk down that hall to the 5th office, and say, "Hey, can I look at your 2" mortar?"

He figured it out pretty quickly (we don't hire no dummies where I work - heck, Dusty used to work for us before he decided flying delivery trucks was more fun than flying a desk - and neither of us knew that until after I'd invited him to post here - different office in a different city -but same firm.)

OH, THAT John Donovan! Now you know I’m a closet militarian.

Amazing what you don't know about the people you work with.

Since I was at home letting the Exterior Guard do their thing in the back yard when I got his first email, I sent him this when I got back to the office:

I've got the mortar in my truck. See me when you get back from wherever it is I saw you headed when I drove in.

John of Argghhh!

Now, If I'd decided to dig out the transit box for the mortar, I would have just carried it in and stuck it on his chair. But since I didn't do that, he stopped by my office and we went out and transferred the mortar out in the parking lot.

Oh, and for Those Who Care About Stuff Like This - it's deactivated, so it's not a weapon, so no rules, corporate or otherwise, were broken in the genesis of this post.