WWII Beretta war trophy - interesting pics

[Armybrat]

This was posted on a sportsboard by another fellow who gave me permission to post it on gunboards:

I have a Beretta that my grandfather carried in WWII. He got it off a dead Italian officer, took the grips off, fashioned new ones out of plexiglas, and put pictures of my grandmother underneath them.

He never met my grandmother in person before the war. A family member of his worked with her mother and she was encouraged to write him. Despite having never met, they knew that they would spend the rest of their lives together by the end of the war. They were together 60 years until she passed away.

 

[skywag]

Great story! Thanks for that.

Best......

 

[Stressfire]

Awesome story to that and, beauty being in the eye of the beholder, great looking weapon to boot.

 

[Dino.]

Apparently, the plexiglass grips with photos of girlfriends/wives were a very popular thing during that period.
I think it's a great idea but it sorta makes me wonder where they got the plexiglass and the tools to make them.

Also makes me wonder if solders still do this today.

 

[Jim Watson]

The usual story is that the Plexiglas came from the cockpit canopies of shot down aircraft. Either theirs or one of ours that just barely made it back and was scrapped.