Wednesday, January 16, 2013

WWII USMC Corporal 2nd Division

Here is a service jacket with an early unofficial 2nd Marine Division snake patch which was later replaced with the more common Torch patch. Now there is a lot of interesting things about this coat, that it is such a late coat with a ruptured duck but a very early snake patch. Here is a Marine who really liked his old patch when he went home. An interesting coat none the less!

WWII IJA Norakuro-kun Soft Vinyl Sofubi のらくろ

While the US had their own set of cartoon hero's in WWII, the Japanese also had an enduring early Manga character that was used on the home front during WWII. Norakuro-kun originated from a manga comic from the 1930's by former Imperial Japanese Army soldier Suiho Tagawa (1899-1989) who served in the Emperor's Army from 1919-1922. Norakuro-kun was part of the Fierce Dog Brigade but like Bill Maudlins' Willie & Joe, Norakuro-kun came to represent the average joe in the army that every soldier could relate to. After the war his popularity soared, and minus his IJA affiliation, had his very own anime TV series in 1970s. Still a very popular character this modern soft vinyl toy was made as a nod to his former IJA career from the 1930-40s.

Friday, January 11, 2013

WWIl Wide USN and Marine Ribbons

Last week I was able to pick up a nice lot of WWII and post war ribbons, a nice mix of Army, Navy and Marine ribbons. If you don't know already, in WWII the Navy and Marines had 1/2 "wide" ribbons that were taller than the Army ribbons. They tend to be harder to locate than the Army ribbons. Of what I could figure out in 1956 the services consulated their ribbon specs making the wide ribbons obsolete. Accordingly when restoring WWII Navy Jumpers and Marine coats assembling a set of wide ribbons can be a bit difficult. It is always best just to keep stock on hand. A fun set of ribbons!

Friday, January 4, 2013

WWII USMC 5th Division HBT Jacket Iwo Jima

This exception WWII USMC jacket appeared on ebay a few weeks ago named to an Iwo Jima vet in the 13th Regiment 5th Marine Division. Incredible HBT jacket has some tall tale signs of being an Iwo era jacket, including the UNIS markings and the name stenciled on the back while typically post war HBT are found with the name written above the pocket. An incredible jacket!

WWII IJA Japanese Personal Bag Pouch

While the pouches themselves are not really rare or expensive (I paid ¥300 for mine last year), it is incredibly difficult to locate one with all the paperwork. From time to time I'll see them with a few books and such but I have never seen one as complete as this. Imperial Japanese soldiers used these pouches to carry all their personal paperwork as part of their uniform equipment. An exceptional example of a complete bag from WWII.