There was a wonderful man named Gene Gehri that used to come in on Friday afternoons for a beer and perch sandwich. His wife had passed and he was long retired from a local fire department. He asked me if I would like a shell from a deck gun that he brought back from WWII. I said absolutely (not really knowing what it was!)
Gene was a navy Medic in the South Pacific from 1943-1946. He brought the spent shell home from the War and fashioned a new projectile of wood. He told me that it was a 3.5 inch shell from a deck gun.
I needed help on how to display the shell, so I asked my husband, Steven Hill, if he could make a display. Steven was a carpenter and made a cradle that we mounted the shell on. We printed Gene’s information on a brass plate and screwed it onto the cradle to let everyone know who this wonderful piece of history is from. I love looking at the shell because I have such fond memories of Gene and his time here with us.
