CRICKET

This TB was placed on my Mother's Birthday as a present to her.  She is the one who got me started in Geocaching and it has become my favorite hobby.  

Cricket's mission is simple: Make it to all 50 states, and then back to her.  I will follow it's journey, and once it has completed it's travels, I will contact the current owner and arrange for it's travels back to her.

Thanks for your help, please do NOT keep the Cricket attached to the tag.  If you want one for yourself, I will be happy to show you were to purchase one and you can have your own piece of history.

We have better luck with TB's not "disappearing" in premium caches, so use those as much as possible please.

 Happy Birthday Mother, I love you, and thanks for everything!

-Sniperbelew

I chose the "Cricket" because my mother's cacheing name is CrickettLegs, given to her by her husband Twomikes2003 because of how she rubs her legs together when she's cold.  I was simply going to find a toy cricket or plastic bug for this TB, but since I am a Soldier with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and the unit used these devices in WWII, it seemed fitting to tie the TB to our relationship, Mother and Son.  This is an authentic reproduction cricket made on the same equipment as the originals.  Below is a brief history on the device.



The Acme No. 470 clicker “Airborne Cricket”; known to men of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division as the “cricket” was originally designed as a time keeping device for band and orchestra leaders in the 1920’s. The original history behind the use of the airborne cricket is not known, however, it is possible that examples of the clicker came back to England with visiting U.S. Army bands and a member of the 101st airborne division saw its potential for an excellent signaling device for the hours of darkness.

After the 101st Airborne started using crickets an order was placed with J Hudson and Co. and production was increased to meet the large order. The clickers were made in brass, nickel plated brass, and even tin which was used when brass sheet availability diminished.

The crickets were used on D-Day (June 5th/6th 1944) when the 101st airborne landed in Normandy during Operation Overlord and the intention was to discard the crickets thereafter. Many of the troops retained their crickets long after the war and have since become iconic symbols to the men of the U.S airborne and the memory of D-Day. Crickets appeared in a couple well-known films including The Longest Day and the HBO series Band of Brothers as well as numerous documentaries.