Bombs Away: Combating Dangerous World War II Trophies in the Early Postwar Era

In spite of U.S. government efforts to limit the importation of war trophies by Americans serving overseas during and immediately after World War II, millions of souvenirs, spoils, and looted objects returned to the United States in GIs’ luggage and mail. The presence of these items in private homes was often innocuous and provided veterans with a tangible reminder of their wartime experiences. However, problems quickly arose when the war trophies were of the weapons variety.

In the first decade after the war ended, thousands of people were injured or killed by the guns, hand grenades, artillery shells, and other weapons that had been smuggled back into the country from overseas. Police departments lamented that Axis weapons were falling into the hands of thugs and racketeers and showing up with increasing regularity at crime scenes. By 1947, the problem had grown too big for the federal government to ignore. During the next four years, it carried out an unprecedented nationwide crusade to educate the public about the dangerous war trophies in their midst, render these souvenirs safe for private ownership, and prohibit criminals from accessing them.

This paper will highlight the problems that dangerous trophies from World War II caused when their owners reentered civilian life and chronicle some of the steps taken to remedy them. In particular, it will address the work of the War Trophy Safety Committee, a four-year collaboration between the U.S. military, the Department of the Treasury, the National Rifle Association, and volunteers across the country. While this partnership did much to curtail the number of crimes and senseless deaths caused by dangerous war trophies in the wake of World War II, it did not eliminate them entirely, which is why this troubling legacy of the war remains with us on some level to this day.