Greetings. Let me introduce myself and post some interesting pictures. I am Burt Siegal, the oldest son of Norman Siegal. Those of you interested in Moto Scoot know a little about him. Let me tell you more and will answer any questions that I can.
During WW II Moto Scoot was manufacturing army cots on a massive scale. The steel was still warm when it arrived on the rail siding from the mill. If anyone is interested, I can tell you how some New York financial guys came in and stole the company so they could declare bankrupsy and sell off a factory full of punch presses and fabricating equipment which were unatainable and near priceless during the war. They sold off the rights to Moto Scoot for very little, almost as an after thought.
Dad, who never went to college, worked as an engineer and was designing the tail section of the Corsair fighter plane. When they wanted him to do something he knew was wrong on the tail wheel, he refused. They threatened him to be drafted in the Army, assigned to the very same drafting table and facing 10 years at hard labor if he still refused. At the age of 31, with three sons, he said screw you and enlisted in the Marines.
In the combat engineers of the 5th Division, he fought through six invasions, the last was IwoJima. All the time he was building parts for a scooter using the machine shops of various transports. When he hit the beach on Iwo, he burried the clutch me made in the sand. It was he and his group raised the second large flag at the top of Surabatchi. He was not in the famous picture of the raising, but was in the group celebrating in the second picture. Later, during the heavy fighting that followed, he was shot twice through the helmet. Though blinded by blood, he kept shooting until his buddies came and wiped out the platoon that had gone into the surf at night to get behind the Marines' front line.
He got the Bronze Star for that and his fourth Purple Heart. Evacuated to a hospital ship and heavily bandaged, he jumped ship to get to the beach to recover his clutch. An officer saw him and said, "If you can walk, you can fight." Back into the fighting, he picked up another Purple Heart for a saber cut during hand-to-hand fighting.
He completed the scooter in Hawaii during R & R before he and over a million others were sent off-score to invade Japan if they failed to surrender. Dad, who had driven many race cars and once drove relief at Indy, was killed at the age of 39 when he purposely slid a car around a curve and an unseen truck came and broadsided him at the driver's side.
The pictures I am attaching are of that scooter he gave me and was taken from it storage place. I, at the age of 86, am desperately trying to locate it so I can help restore it and see it gets into a museum. I am will to pay $500. to anyone who helps me find find it. NOTE: The three pictures file size exceeded the maximum allowed. If there is interest, please advise me how to send the pictures, individually or as a group.
I hope you found this interesting and worth the time it took to read.
Many thanks to all,
Burt Siegal
During WW II Moto Scoot was manufacturing army cots on a massive scale. The steel was still warm when it arrived on the rail siding from the mill. If anyone is interested, I can tell you how some New York financial guys came in and stole the company so they could declare bankrupsy and sell off a factory full of punch presses and fabricating equipment which were unatainable and near priceless during the war. They sold off the rights to Moto Scoot for very little, almost as an after thought.
Dad, who never went to college, worked as an engineer and was designing the tail section of the Corsair fighter plane. When they wanted him to do something he knew was wrong on the tail wheel, he refused. They threatened him to be drafted in the Army, assigned to the very same drafting table and facing 10 years at hard labor if he still refused. At the age of 31, with three sons, he said screw you and enlisted in the Marines.
In the combat engineers of the 5th Division, he fought through six invasions, the last was IwoJima. All the time he was building parts for a scooter using the machine shops of various transports. When he hit the beach on Iwo, he burried the clutch me made in the sand. It was he and his group raised the second large flag at the top of Surabatchi. He was not in the famous picture of the raising, but was in the group celebrating in the second picture. Later, during the heavy fighting that followed, he was shot twice through the helmet. Though blinded by blood, he kept shooting until his buddies came and wiped out the platoon that had gone into the surf at night to get behind the Marines' front line.
He got the Bronze Star for that and his fourth Purple Heart. Evacuated to a hospital ship and heavily bandaged, he jumped ship to get to the beach to recover his clutch. An officer saw him and said, "If you can walk, you can fight." Back into the fighting, he picked up another Purple Heart for a saber cut during hand-to-hand fighting.
He completed the scooter in Hawaii during R & R before he and over a million others were sent off-score to invade Japan if they failed to surrender. Dad, who had driven many race cars and once drove relief at Indy, was killed at the age of 39 when he purposely slid a car around a curve and an unseen truck came and broadsided him at the driver's side.
The pictures I am attaching are of that scooter he gave me and was taken from it storage place. I, at the age of 86, am desperately trying to locate it so I can help restore it and see it gets into a museum. I am will to pay $500. to anyone who helps me find find it. NOTE: The three pictures file size exceeded the maximum allowed. If there is interest, please advise me how to send the pictures, individually or as a group.
I hope you found this interesting and worth the time it took to read.
Many thanks to all,
Burt Siegal
