Here is an example of another of personal effects of men killed in Normandy and that it goes to the family.  Can you imagine the outrage if someone had picked up this paybook from Niland and tried to sell it back to the Niland family?

Even if some quirk in the law would allow a grave robber to sell the effects of a dead soldier to a Museum it is morally repugnant to claim ownership.

When the Gettysburg Museum History said this to the family;

“I still feel that Pfc Jettie House’s bible would be better in our museum”.

The Gettysburg Museum of History admitted it was still Jettie House’s property.

Trying to get 3,000 Euros ($3,725.00) from the legal owners of the Bible is beyond belief. If a stolen car was sold to someone else who didn’t know that it was in fact a stolen car the second buyer is legally out of luck. If the original owner finds said car, legally it has to go to the legal owner and the purchaser of said car is out of luck or as they used to call it “tough noogies” for the money they paid to the person who had stolen the car.

The person who bought the stolen car can go after the person who sold the stolen car/property to them but can’t go after the legal owner.

No different with the Bible. The family never gave away ownership of the Bible. The Gettysburg Museum of History should have located the family before purchasing the Bible as Ms. Bucklew said in her eloquent writing. All they had to do was to look on Facebook or the National WWII Memorial site to find Mrs. House-Bucklew.

Mark Zaid who offered the Bible to the House family must be the The Director mentioned in the Worrell responses. 

Zaid produced a receipt saying that this was for the Bible.  But nowhere on the receipt does it show the word Bible.  Also the name of the original owner's name is blocked who according to Dorr lived in Le Mesnil-Vigot.  It turns out that the town of Led Mesnil-Vigot had nothing to do with this sordid affair.

When I was in the record collecting business in the 1990s when I came back from Europe I had to list everything I'd purchased.  If I'd just written down "Music Collection" for $10,000.00 Customs would have had a problem with that.

To attack a four generation Military family as the Gettysburg Museum of History did is unconscionable. The Erik Dorr go-to move is to threaten with a lawyer time after time.

For the rest of my life the name Gettysburg will be associated with what the "Gettysburg Museum of History" has done to the House family. It takes a lot to sully the name of a hallowed American battlefield.


Brian N. Siddall
February 17, 2018
Updated
February 22, 2018

I WANT TO MAKE THIS VERY CLEAR
(Update February 21, 2018 7:11 a.m.)

The people in the town of Le Mesnil-Vigot had nothing to do with the House Bible story that TGMoH (The Gettysburg Museum of History) posted December 23, 2015, TGMoH.  Using TGMoH own words I had to assume that the House Bible had been in possession or a person at Le Mesnil-Vigot since the strafing when I wrote this article.      

Before delving into what the House family went through when dealing with Dorr and Zaid I want people to know that the TGMoH story from the December 23, 2015 was false in regards to the House Bible. 

Only when my article came out about what had been done to the House family did they try and come clean.  They said that it was Antonin DeHays who had created the story about the local Le Mesnil-Vigot holding on to the House Bible.  In the December 2015 post about the House Bible from TGMoH there is no mention that anyone else was involved in the House Bible acquisition except TGMoH. 

Even after TGMoH  had returned the House Bible they didn’t say that Antonin DeHays lied about where the House Bible came from.  Even on the diatribe by Dorr on February 8, 2018 they didn't disavow the story.

TGMoH (The Gettysburg Museum of History) is now trying to deflect their own words in the December 23, 2015 about how they received the House Bible.  Here is what they said in December of 2015;

“Locals helped with the bodies as the Germans moved on.  This Testament was located in Europe and kept by one of the civilians that helped”.      

TGMoH knew even at that time that it wasn’t true and that in fact Antonin DeHays had sold the House Bible to the TGMoH in the United States.  Remember that Zaid gave a receipt to the House family and purported that it was from the trip to France.      

In fact the Germans took all of the personal effects from the strafing and took it to Germany.  The USA took those personal effects back after the war.  In the new article coming out today it will explain that.  But the people from Le Mesnil-Vigot hand NOTHING to do with any of the personal effects.  Frightening how TGMoH blamed a person from Le Mesnil-Vigot for that.

A Continuing Attack on the House Family

On February 8, 2018 I asked Erik Dorr a very basic question on the Trigger Time Group. I had assumed that Erik Dorr had returned it to the House family. Dorr’s response was disgusting to say the least. That in turn told me that I needed to find the family of Jettie House and get their side of the story as Dorr’s response was that of a 5-year old.

The real story has now come out and it has nothing to do with what Dorr and Zaid originally said to the House family.

All Dorr had to do was to respond to my original question was did he return the House Bible to the rightful owner. I thought it had been returned to the House family as that would be the most logical answer, instead of course Dorr’s response which was his diatribe and his foul language.

It turns out it had been returned to the legal owner during the second half of 2017, but it was NARA and not the House family that received it. All Dorr had to do was to say that the Bible was in the hands of NARA. Dorr of course didn’t.

I spoke with the family again yesterday February 20, 2018 afternoon and I told them that the Bible might actually be in NARA.  I didn’t know the full story yet but wanted to reach out to the family first. They were shocked and said they still thought it was at TGMoH.

An email was sent to the Chief Operating Officer National Archives & Records Administration 5:40 p.m. I didn’t expect to hear a response until at least today. I was wrong in a good way! Mr. Bosanko called me around 6:30 p.m. the same night.

I then got the back story of what had really happened to the Bible. It’s a long story but the upshot is that NARA had the House Bible along with thousands of other personal effect since the 1950s.

The House Bible was stolen from NARA by Antonin DeHays .  He then sold it to the TGMoH in 2015 it seems.  Remember that the TGMoH on December 23, 2015 spoke of the newest addition.

The stolen Bible was returned to NARA in the summer of 2017 by TGMoH . The family was still under the impression that that TGMoH had possession of the House Bible.

Here is the start of an email from Jim Bucklew to Zaid;

“On Mon, Oct 16, 2017 at 7:45 PM, James Bucklew <jimbuck44@yahoo.com> wrote:
Dear Mr Zaid,

Sorry for delay of getting back to you on this situation but it is hard to get family all together to discuss this issue”.

Here is Zaid’s complete response;

“Mon, Nov 13, 2017 at 9:21 PM, Mark Zaid <mark@markzaid.com> wrote:

James -

My apologies for taking so long to respond.

I have been asked to inform you that for any further inquiries concerning the Bible you should contact:

William "Jay" Bosanko
Chief Operating Officer
National Archives & Records Administration
(privacy issue)

(301) (privacy issue)

I wish you and your family a very safe and enjoyable holiday season.

Mark”

If you notice Zaid never said that the TGMoH had given up the Bible. The House family had no idea at the time who and why they needed to call NARA. The House family had never heard of NARA before.

The full name and email was given to the House family but as mentioned they had no idea what this meant. All Zaid had to do even at that point was to say that NARA was in possession of the House Bible.

After speaking with Mr. Bosanko I was able to fully explain what had happened. Remember the House family had never been told until February 20, 2018 where the Bible was located.

So finally the House family can rest easy about where the Bible resides. In fact after the sentence is handed down in early April of 2018 the House family can go to NARA and actually hold Jettie House’s Bible after almost 74 years.

The article from last week was in fact true except for the lie from that TGMoH saying it was a local Le Mesnil-Vigot who had the House Bible. TGMoH did nothing to let people know that wasn’t true even after they had to return the stolen House Bible back to NARA.

I always knew there was a cabal of WWII collectors that included Mark Bando, Rich/Rick Riley and Jake Powers.  I didn't realize until the email below that it also included Erik Dorr.  

Mark Bando sent me this email below on February 20, 2018 and said this;

“Erik paints a totally different picture of the House relatives, and says he has phone recordings which prove they communicated with him in a profane and threatening way, even acting mentally disturbed”

Remember the old saying "The pot calling the kettle black"?

That is Erik Dorr to a tee. Remember what Erik Dorr said to me in a public forum saying things like “Brian Siddall you are a FU**in piece of sh** etc. When someone like Dorr tries to say that the House family is unbalanced but he himself Dorr posted on a public site (or for that matter even in private) the old pot calling the kettle black is more than appropriate.

The House family that I’ve spoken with are some of the most down to earth people I’ve met. Ms. Bucklew works with Elementary School children, Mr. Bucklew was in the service and their kids were in the service as well. So after Mark Bando said that Dorr calls the House family mentally disturbed I say look in a mirror.

In fact the last communication I remember interacting with Dorr was on FB in 2016. He thanked me for showing him the errors done by Antonin DeHays. I knew Antonin DeHays but had stopped communication with him in 2016. The St. Mere Eglise book had a lot of errors. When I asked him if there was an English version of his History Dissertation he said at the time it was only in French. That’s when I gave up on him.

Even now February 20, 2018 Zaid tried to force Ms. Bucklew to not share a link on FB. He should really read this thing called the US Constitution.

Brian N. Siddall
February 21, 2018
Updated
February 22, 2018

Bando, you’re just embarrassing yourself now

From your own writings in pink (The upper case is all on you);

“but he should have known about the US government's policy of not sending battle damaged or bloody artifacts to next of kin, BUT HE DID NOT KNOW THAT”

If you notice in the upper cased rant Bando was trying to question my work. In reality he’s made himself look worse, first going after a Gold Star 4 generation family now quoting a policy that didn’t exist.

It’s obvious that Bando knows very little about Army documentation like IDPFs (Individual Deceased Personal File). Battle damage was sent ahead to the family many times along with bloody items as well.  Not only did the mother of this soldier receive Personal Effects with bloodstains she also received a watch that was battle damaged.  How do we know this?  In the link above it mentions in the Personal Effects his Medical File shows he was hit in not only the head but in one of his hands.

Anything that was a Personal Effect was sent to the States then to the family. If it was an item such as a shirt, helmet, boots, pants etc it was kept by the Government as that was their property but anything else went to the NOK (Next of Kin).

Mark you really need to try harder to discredit my work. Did you pull this latest attack out of your ass by chance?  Quite a few people contacted me about your latest attack on both the House family and me. Once again, look in a mirror.

On the plus side this morning I came across another IDPF and now know the reason for the massacre in Graignes.  If Bando hadn't gone off on his latest rant the last piece of the Graignes puzzle wouldn’t have been known. Your rant had nothing do with my discovery only that I had to once again show the error of your ways.


Brian Siddall
March 4, 2018

Update (March 5, 2018)

This morning Bando responded with yet another rant that has little or no basis in reality.

How could anyone respond to such an utterance? They can't.

The End