WW2 Era Army-Issue Schrade knives

[Dr Sanchez]

Hey guys, I registered because I have sort of a weird story and I'm hoping you can make some sense of it. My grandfather, a Chinese immigrant and WW2 vet, was going through some of his things with me and came up with an Uncle Henry Schrade knife. He says the knife was issued to him when he was made 1st scout in his company ( when I asked how one distinguishes himself from all the other scouts to become 1st scout, he told me he did it by not getting killed).

As far as I can tell, the Uncle Henry didn't begin production until 1973. However Schrade did manufacture knives for the army during the war and I also know he has plenty of other memorabilia, including other knives I remember seeing as a child as well as other things he has hidden away in his packrat home and has no doubt forgotten. He's never been a liar or even a big storyteller, but he's also at an age where he gets confused about things, and his poor english and poor health both exacerbate communication problems. So I have two questions: was the Uncle Henry manufactured during the war? And if not, is it possible he was given some other folding knife (possibly a Schrade), and would it be identifiable with being an infantry scout in the pacific? Well I guess here's a third question, if such a knife exist, should I take any particular care to find and preserve it or is it not a thing people will be much interested in?

If it helps he served in the 24th Infantry from the New Guinea campaign through the entirety of the Philipines campaign.

Thanks everyone.

[Paladin]

DR,
First, welcome to the forum This is by far the best and friendliest knife site on the web.
I doubt there were any Uncle Henrys that far back but some here are much more knowledgable and they will drop by to give a more certain answer than I have given.

Ray

[ea42]

The Uncle Henry knives didn't come about until around 1972-73. During the war years the most common Schrade issued knives were the switchblade paratrooper knives and the TL-29 style knives, which had a screwdriver blade and a spearpoint blade, and wood handles. The paratrooper auto was a single clip blade knife around 4" long. I believe it had bone handles and a bail. Civilian version was model 1555 in Schrade Cut.Co form and 155 in Schrade Walden form. I don't recall the military model #. If you've got the knife handy, post a picture, we might be able to give you more info on it (plus you've got my curiosity up as to just what it is ).

Eric