World War II Practice Bomb, 1943

This 100 pound bomb, dented and unusable, was given to C.M. Schloss at Alamogordo Army Air Corps Base in the summer of 1943. This base was a World War II Army training base for B-17 and B-24 heavy bomber aircraft with their crews. It later became the training base for B29 bombers deployed to the South Pacific Combat Theater. The bomb was of interest to C.M. Schloss because he had been building rockets and rocket engines in the basement of his parents' home for a year. Today it reflects a period in Denver's Jewish history because of the hundreds of signatures of World War II soldiers who came to our house and who signed the bomb.

A great many of the Jewish women in Denver opened their homes to the out-of-town Jewish soldiers stationed near here: Buckley Field, Lowry Field, Ft. Logan, and the 10th Mountain Division at Copper Mountain, near Leadville. On their weekend passes, they would be invited to the home of C.M. Schloss for meals or picnics in the mountains when the family had sufficient gasoline. The family had twogardens to grow their own vegetables to help feed the family and community.

This particular bomb carries the signatures, faded by age, of hundreds of soldiers who were guests at the home of C.M. Schloss during those war years, many of whom were shot down, never returned, or who did return but were injured. One survivor known to C.M. Schloss was a veteran soldier who married his sister, Louise.

"So, please don't touch it; the guest signatures are so very fragile, as is life itself." -C.M. Schloss

This information was taken from information given by C.M. Schloss on 4 July 2014.