Garage sale find

My oldest son wanted to go garage sale hunting this morning looking for old video games and consoles, so I decided to tag along. He was not lucky in finding something for his collection but I was. This is a military stretcher/litter. After doing a very quick search with Google, some say it is WW2 and some say that it could be even earlier, possibly WW1. One person said that usually the date is stamped in the wood near the metal hinges but I did not see anything. The canvass is attached to the wood with what appears to heavy duty tacks that first go through a strip of leather, then the canvass and then wood. There are two straps that hold it in the closed position. They are made of canvass with metal eye rings. On the main canvass part, at the feet and head area, are two sets of holes that are re-enforced with metal or brass rings. Are these for holding something in place: ie. a pillow or padding? The length of the canvass is approx. 70 inches,  the overall length is 92 inches tall, and 23 inches wide in the open locked position. Anuone seen one like this before?

Thanks in advance!

Damn John, I gotta start doing garage sales around your neck of the woods. All I find around here are Military Crosses, German DD helmets and Honour daggers. LMAO Just kidding, nothing around here in the last 3 years.

I can't add any details about this litter, but yes it should be marked somewhere on the wood I would think. It appears to be in very good order.

Nice find for sure. I hope someone can add something more constructive to this that I could.

That was a real nice find. I never find anything like that or any military at garage sales. I was walking past a pawn shop last week and they had a green litter in their doorway, I thought about taking a look at it, but don't have the room for it.
Len

I have been doing some research on this stretcher/litter I picked up on Saturday. My initial thoughts were that it could have been WW2, but what I have found, it is either WW1 or possibly earlier. Here is my deduction: On the stretcher, the wood running the length of where the canvass is attached is square shaped, is grooved on the outside after the handles and the canvass is tacked in place with a band of leather going the length of it. Also the stretcher has oval shaped feet made of steel. See my first picture.



The second picture shows the same style of stretcher with the handle details, the square  wood shape, the leather band over the canvass, and the oval shaped feet, like mine.



I believe this stretcher is WW1 vintage. I still have to confirm this by finding a marking or a year stamp. Any comments or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Very nice and interesting piece, my local antique store has a CEF folding trench ladder, how these items ended up in Canada is always a mystery. I would like to keep the trench ladder but it does take a lot of room. It folds in half lengthways and has arms that fold out to stabilize the ladder.

The canvas on your stretcher looks in excellent condition considering how old it is and what it went through.

Thanks Tankermike. When I first looked at the stuff at the garage sale, I didn't even notice it standing up in a corner. Just by chance as my son and I were leaving, I asked, if by chance, did he have anything military? He said yes just one item and pointed to the corner I had just passed by and said there was a stretcher over there. Moral of the story, always ask if you don't see what you are looking for.

that was an unusual find, any luck finding markings? out of interest. I have one photo I picked up recently of a stretcher in the Polish airborne field hospital at Driel

Hi John,

Sure looks like it, but a side view would be better. I will try again to see if there are any markings on it and if there are, i will post the results.

Cheers!
John