Sun City man’s World War II-era collection spans all sorts of media

Throughout his life, Sun City Summerlin resident Jim Brush has picked up pieces of a time long past. Now, he can take a trip down Memory Lane whenever he wants.

He estimates he has 200 items, including posters, magazines, print ads, sheet music and newspapers, dating from 1939 to 1946.

"I just always liked old things," he said, regarding why he kept them all these decades.

He offers the items, for a fee, to casinos and groups that may want to display them at events. Most recently, Sun City Military & Friends wanted the collection for its Oktoberfest annual meeting after the group's president, Herman Bishop, learned of Brush's collection from an acquaintance, Larry Jones, who is Brush's neighbor.

Why did the group think it would be a good fit?

"We have a lot of veterans in our club," Bishop said. "They're all interested in this type of thing. It fits in with our program."

Only one poster in Brush's collection is for sale. It is a Navy recruitment poster featuring Edward Henry "Butch" O'Hare, for whom the Chicago airport was named, sitting in a plane's pilot's seat. O'Hare was shot down five times in combat and was a Medal of Honor recipient.

Brush is willing to part with it because he has two of that poster.

"He's given some (items) to the grandkids," said his wife, Judie. "So, he's not hoarding it."

The collection includes pictures of movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin, sheet music for "As Time Goes By," complete with the stars of "Casablanca"on the cover; Glenn Miller sheet music for "Moonlight Serenade"; and various Life magazines that sold for 10 cents. One copy has Douglas MacArthur on the cover and is notable for what it did not cover: it was printed before Pearl Harbor was attacked and was already shipped to newsstands for its Dec. 8, 1941 issue.

Brush also has some reproduction newspaper front pages, such as a London paper from 1941, when the Nazis blitzed Great Britain.

Three of the newspaper front pages are originals, discolored by time, one with a corner torn. One of them is an extra edition put out by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin from Dec. 7, 1941, proclaiming, "War! Oahu Bombed by Japanese Planes."

The headlines get less politically correct in the years after that — A Seattle Post-Intelligencer dated Aug. 15, 1945, has a headline proclaiming, "Jap Nation Surrenders."

One of the newspapers includes an ad for Florsheim men's dress shoes. The price: $11.

Brush was too young to have fought in World War II, but he served two years in the Army in the 1950s and played trombone in the Army Band. Stationed in Germany, he was discharged as a corporal and went on to be a music teacher. Judie was a nurse.

Brush enjoys the memories but is not wishing for a return to that era.

"People think, 'Gee, it'd be neat to be living back then,' and sure, there was a lot of good stuff, but there was a lot of bad, too, like polio and a bunch of other diseases," he said. "People call them the 'good old days.' Well, yeah, in some ways, but not in others."

For more information, email juandjim@msn.com.

— To reach Summerlin Area View reporter Jan Hogan, email jhogan@viewnews.com or call 702-387-2949.