USA (British Made) WW2 101st Airborne Cricket: For the first time since 1944 the 'Acme' cricket is available again. This little device which was carried by the paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division into France on D-Day June 6th 1944 was originally known as the 'No.470 clicker' by manufacturers J Hudson and Co Ltd of Birmingham England but quickly came to be called the 'cricket' by the airborne paratroopers.
After more than two years of hard work the cricket is being made once more. Not only that, they are being made by the original company, in the original factory, on the original machines and using the original dies.
These crickets are in fact original, they have just been made 65 years after the first batch! They are made of brass and steel just as in the originals!
Do not confuse this cricket with others you may have seen for sale, this is the real thing. Your D-Day paratrooper rig will not be complete without a REAL 'Acme' cricket to tape to your helmet strap or string around your neck. This item would also make the ideal gift for the Airborne afficionado in your life. I repeat, you can buy a cheap imitation for £5, but this is the real thing ,and a lot of work and effort has gone into producing this piece of Airborne history!
If you are one of the visitors to Littlecote House England on the Stephen Ambrose 'Band of Brothers' tour, yes, this is the cricket you saw there and you can now own it! If you watch the file 'The Longest Day', you will see this item used and demonstrated several times!
I remember 'em well...they came in all sorts of varieties and shapes -- we kids would love to piss off skoo teachers by doing "Pocket Snaps"; impossible to get busted.