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RARE, American Soldier’s Private Purchase WW2 2nd Pattern Fairbairn Sykes FS Fighting Knife By Wilkinson Sword With Etched Panels & Banner To ‘Amos H, Gerding’ (U.S. Army 1110th Engineer Combat Group) & Scabbard With Dossier Of Research. Sn 17922 - 17922 2nd Pattern Fairbairn Sykes 'FS' Fighting Knives were introduced in 1941. Examples with etched blades are illustrated in Chapter 7 of The Fairbairn Sykes Fighting Knife & Other Commando Knives By Flook. American & Canadian special forces soldiers & Officers bought FS fighting knives as private purchase weapons. Examples of named, etched blades are illustrated on pages 96 & 97 of Flook’s book. This example has an undamaged knurled and blackened 2nd pattern hilt and blued oval cross guard. It has an undamaged 178mm blade with medial ridge & etched panels. One side ‘Wilkinson Sword London’ with crossed swords legend. The reverse ‘The FS Fighting Knife’. One side of the blade has a crisp etched & blued scrolling banner with name ‘Amos H, Gerding’ (Amos 'Dick' Gerding (1918-1992) was an enlisted man with the U.S. Army 1110th Engineer Combat Group in 1945. Elements of the Unit built many bridges and saw much action during the push to defeat Germany including at Utah Beach, Remagen and the general Hodges bridge Bad Godesburg, Germany for which the Engineers were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation). The dagger is complete with original leather scabbard with blued external chape and single belt loop. It retains its 4 sewn on leather tabs and as is common is without its elasticated retaining strap. All leather & stitching are intact. The dagger is accompanied by a Dossier of internet research documents which include antecedents of the Soldier, some details of his service including a copy of a hand drawn portrait of the Soldier dated 13th July 1945 Goppingen Germany, an image of his grave stone in Ohio USA and WW2 Unit Information. The price for this rare item includes UK delivery. Sn 17922
£1,750.00
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