World War II
A knifemaker since 1939, in January 1941, John Ek started producing knives in quantity in Hamden, Connecticut. By 1943 he was making six different styles of knives. By August 1944, demand for his knives had grown to the point where he had three shifts working around the clock seven days a week, to produce 10 different models.
All of the knives made during WWII by Ek were numbered to help the owners keep track of them if they were lost, and because he guaranteed each knife for the lifetime of the original owner. By keeping the original owner's name on record, he could follow up his lifetime guarantee system. Ek had very strong feelings about restricting his knives to active-duty US servicemen.
It is reported that President Franklin D. Roosevelt kept a John Ek Commando Knife on his desk in the White House until the time of his death. General George S. Patton, Jr. owned a John Ek Commando Knife (as did several of his subordinates); Ek eventually named his Model No. 6 the "Patton Knife". Captain Clark Gable, while not necessarily expecting to see combat, purchased a number of Ek Knives while he served.
Read more about this topic: Ek Commando Knife Co.
Famous quotes containing the words world and/or war:
“O sovereign mistress of true melancholy,
The poisonous damp of night disponge upon me,
That life, a very rebel to my will,
May hang no longer on me. Throw my heart
Against the flint and hardness of my fault,
Which, being dried with grief, will break to powder
And finish all foul thoughts. O Antony,
Nobler than my revolt is infamous,
Forgive me in thine own particular,
But let the world rank me in register
A master-leaver and a fugitive.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Our young people have come to look upon war as a kind of beneficent deity, which not only adds to the national honor but uplifts a nation and develops patriotism and courage. That is all true. But it is only fair, too, to let them know that the garments of the deity are filthy and that some of her influences debase and befoul a people.”
—Rebecca Harding Davis (1831–1910)