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closeTeen remembers the past through his collection
War memorabilia featured in a museum exhibit
Susan Schell
of the Gateway
Josh Otto has been collecting war memorabilia since he was in grade school. And that wasn’t all that long ago, considering he’s a senior at Gig Harbor High School. However, in that amount of time, he’s gathered enough to amass an impressive collection that’s on display at the Fox Island Historical Society Museum through November.
There are dog tags, weapons, a Nazi cigarette case, a pocket-sized military Bible, dirty and frayed from use, and a creepy looking gas mask that smells like stinky rubber inside.
The mask is emblazoned with the logo of the Nazi party eagle.
“It’s pretty amazing that someone this young has a collection like this,” museum volunteer Gail Jones said. “It’s great to see someone his age take such an interest in history.”
Otto said he got into military history when he did a report on aircraft carriers in elementary school.
“It started out kind of small in the sixth grade,” he said. “I learned about the gunner and was fascinated with weaponry. Then my parents gave me some stuff for my birthday.”
To spark his interest, his parents gave him books on World War II history. One of his prizes is a picture of the USS Arizona in a frame made of wood from a 100-year-old barn.
Otto said he’s not into the civil war as much as World War II.
“I look at the era, the time zone and how different it was from these days,” he said. “The effort that it took and how many lives it cost. They didn’t have the draft back then. You had to go sign up.”
Otto’s grandfather and great uncle were WWII vets. His grandfather, Bill Colglazier, told him about how he was part of the second wave of troops to hit the beach at Omaha.
“He said he had to step in water chest-deep, and they didn’t know what was under there,” Otto said. “They had to arm crawl to the point. One time they got attacked while he was showering and he lost his dog tags.”
One day Colglazier told his grandson that a friend of his had two old footlockers from the war that he wanted to get rid of. He was welcome to have them if he came to get them.
“I was like, ‘Wow,’ ” Otto said. “There were field artillery guides and a German canteen with bullets in it. It was really cool that they still have all this stuff.”
The gas mask was among the items in the footlocker. The mask gave his sister the creeps.
“I told my sister while I was watching ‘Ghost Hunters’ that ghosts could be attached to things,” he said. “She got freaked out.”
Over the years, through donations from family friends and purchases from antique shops, Otto collected enough for a large display on a book shelf in his bedroom. He loaned the collection to the museum as part of its Veteran’s Day exhibit.
Otto said he’ll continue to collect war memorabilia in honor of the men who used them.
“I don’t want it to be forgotten,” he said.
Private collection on display
The Fox Island Historical Society Museum is located at 1017 9th Ave. on Fox Island. For more information, call 253-549-2461.