The following is a brief account of my acquiring the Mauser Luger. It was late June of 1945 - the war had ended, but a new conflict had erupted - the exodus of hundreds of thousands of displaced persons, fleeing to the western zones from the Russian established areas. I was with the 16th Armored Infantry Battalion of the 15th Army Group, a backup unit to Patton's famous 4th Armored.  (I later found myself polishing my helmet liner with shoe polish in the 10th AIB, under Patton's direction).  I was assigned to a hilltop overlooking farm lands just outside Marienbad which was not too far from Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, a city that my battalion was credited as having liberated.  (Not a shot was fired!).  My job was to direct the displaced persons to established UNRA, (United Nations Relief Agency) camps. It was a quiet Sunday morning, when I spotted a German soldier running across the fields about an eighth of a mile away.  This was my big chance, at last, to fire my M1 rifle, which I had toted around for a year without ever having fired.  So, two shots in the air brought the German racing towards me with hands raised. He turned out to be a young German officer, whose rank I could not distinguish by his uniform insignia.  My eye never left his holster (I being 19 years old and quite nervous), but had the presence of mind to hold my rifle towards him.  After some sign language, he handed me his gun and some papers, which turned out to be of a personal nature.  I obviously kept the gun but returned his papers. The gun turned out to be a 1942 Mauser Luger, serial number 3680 with two magazines, one in the gun and the spare in the holster.  Both magazines had the matching numbers of the Luger, 3680, and marked 1 & 2.  The holster had P38 etched on the back. Discharge approached in June of 1946, and we were ordered to confiscate all weapons before embarking to the States.  But the Luger had become my prize possession, and with the help of two buddies we broke down the Luger, each taking parts.  I have had this Luger in my possession for 50 years, but with 12 Grandchildren frequenting our home, I felt it was time to part with it-after having never fired it since leaving Europe. My Army serial number was 31 468 831, discharged at Fort Dix N.J. on 11 June 1946. Should you need any other information, please call on me. Very truly yours, Sidney Stamell PS  Mr. Stamell told me that they put the parts in their boots to smuggle them onboard the ship.