All About Pocket Knives

I've heard it said about many an old knife, "If only it could talk," but sometimes they can in a way. This old KA-BAR sheath knife I found at a flea market recently had a bit of a story to tell thanks to the owner, Chaplain Aidan R. Potter, scratching his name in it. An internet search resulted in the following;

"Among the officers and men of the 31st Division who have been decorated for valor in the Pacific War are many with dramatic stories worth remembering. Thrice-decorated is Chaplain (Captain) Aidan R. Potter of Chicago who exposed himself to the concentrated fire of six enemy machine guns in order to assist the evacuation of infantrymen who were wounded as they came ashore in an LVT in the Mapia operation, and for which he was awarded the Silver Star Medal.

In the dense jungles of Morotai, a litter which held a wounded man was mistaken by a cargo plane for a drop panel, and as the plane dropped a deadly hail of ration boxes, killing and wounding those below, Chaplain Potter risked his life to remain with the man on the litter to comfort and aid him. For this he received the Bronze Star Medal. In a later operation through Morotai's rugged mountains, the gallant chaplain was injured and now holds the Purple Heart, his third award."

Source- http://www.indianamilitary.org/31STINFD ... ry-WW2.htm

I thought some of the folks here might enjoy the story as much as I did. I'll probably pass the knife and its history along to a military knife collector where it can be appreciated best, since it doesn't fit in with my collection. It sure was a neat thing to find.

I think that's a great find with a good story.

I find it hard to accept that his family would have let the knife go. Makes one wonder what they did with the SS, BSM, PH and the citations that described the circumstances of the awards.

I'm curious if the Good Chaplain lived anywhere close to where you acquired the knife?
Fascinating.

Charlie Noyes

What an incredible find, and story! I wonder how it made it's way to the flea market, probably quite a story in itself! It would be really cool if the knife could be re-united with someone in the family (if there is anyone) who might appreciate it.

Boy-Oh-Boy, what a great find and some super sluething. I think I would print a very nice copy of the military history of the Capt. Chaplin and put it and the knife into a shadow box. What a great conversation piece. Congratulations.

I bought it from a seller who specializes in old outdoors/sporting goods at a flea market a ways north of Detroit. The Chaplain according to the article was from Chicago, so it hasn't traveled all that far. After reading that story the first thing I did was try to locate where the Chaplin and his family went after the war, but I didn't find anything that fit right. I always wonder about such things when going to military shows and the like, all the medals, uniforms, and artifacts there having been seperated from the owner or family at some point.

Boy-Oh-Boy, what a great find and some super sluething. I think I would print a very nice copy of the military history of the Capt. Chaplin and put it and the knife into a shadow box. What a great conversation piece. Congratulations.

Thanks, I think I'll do just that.

Would this be considered a "military knife", would he have carried this through the Pacific?

Great and interesting find!

Thanks!

I believe based on the tang stamps and construction that it is a retail knife from the late 30's or early 40's, but I'm not positive, it could be post war. The use of "Chaplain" rather than "Father" or other such title makes me beleive he owned it while in the military, but again thats just an educated guess.

Another Knife Collector wrote:Thanks!

I believe based on the tang stamps and construction that it is a retail knife from the late 30's or early 40's, but I'm not positive, it could be post war. The use of "Chaplain" rather than "Father" or other such title makes me beleive he owned it while in the military, but again thats just an educated guess.

That's true, never thought about that. Again, great find.

I'm no authority on military knives, but it looks like a well used U.S. Navy Mark I. However, those fiber handles are not leather and every Mark I or Mark II I've ever seen had leather washer handles. So, it might have been a private purchase item, or it might have been re-handled during the War. Lots of these got re-handled by Navy SeeBees and other engineer types.

Google has a "people finder" option. You might try plugging his name into that to see what pops. Problem with that is that you get a lot of sites that want money for the address or phone number.

If he is recently deceased or his widow still lives in their home under his name, you should get a positive match. I'd try the matches that live or lived in Illinois.

Charlie Noyes

AKC - I want you to know that you really peaked my interest in searching people out. I collect Zippo lighters and a few years back I bought a Vietnam Zippo off the Bay. The lighter had the original owners name engraved on it, 25th Inf. Div., a tank and a phrase that read, "When I die bury me face down so the whole world can kiss my a**" I had searched several times through the years for the original owner, to no avail. Well, I tried again today AND I FOUND HIM The fellow lives in Hawaii and he said that he had not seen the lighter since May 8, 1968, the day he was wounded in action in Vietnam and carried to the hospital. Well, tomorrow I go to the post office and he should have it back in a couple of days. Really makes me feel good. Thanks so much for your post.

That is fantastic! What a great end to the story of that lighter, it's amazing to hear about such good coming from a simple post on the internet! I'm glad to hear it's being reunited with it's old owner.

In the case of my knife I've found a Social Security Death Index for an Aidan R Potter of Illinois having died in St Louis in 1988. There's little doubt that this is the same Aiden R Potter of Chicago, Illinois, but I have yet to find anything that shows any surviving relatives.

If you e-mail the public library in St. Louis, they may do an obituary search for you and send it to you. Sometimes they charge a very minimal fee for the search, maybe a couple of bucks. The death cert. should show a spouse and/or the informant who supplied the information.

It won't give me any more info from the death certificate without a $155 membership, so I'll have to find another source, hopefully an obituary can be found, that would answer a lot.

Death Certificate isn't likely to list a spouse for Aidan Potter, he was a Catholic priest !

I tried a brief search on Ancestry.com and the U.S. census of 1930 is the most recent available there due to privacy policies, but in 1930 Aidan R. Potter was a student in a Franciscan Monastery in Cleveland Ohio.

Fran

Good info Fran. That would eliminate a spouse. Looks like the only thing to do is an obit search at the St. Louis County Public Library. I'm sure they will do that for a small fee, I know our libraries do.

I just moved to a new house and don't have much time for the computer right now, but try this link for starters and good luck hunting.

http://www.slpl.lib.mo.us/libsrc/obit.htm

Fran