Wow! Every once in a while one comes across an incredible item that puts one at a loss of words. This HBT coat appeared on an auction site recently. Incredibly it was IDed to Captain Colonel Henry Mansfield ("Colonel" is his first name) who was in the Chaplain Corps as a Catholic Chaplain and the head Chaplain for the 1st Marine Division in WWII. He also served in WWI and the Korean War and died in 1953. Interesting enough his Mother was a lady in waiting in Napoleon III's court in the 1800's. His three brothers also served in armed forces in the 20-30's. Incredible HBT coat that tells a unique story. UPDATE 5/27/2014 I thought it would be important to update this Blog article. First I received the HBT coat last month and due to the small pictures I realized I made a mistake in IDing this item. Once having it in my hands I realized that the "C" in the name stamping was really a "G"! Yikes I didn't realize this until I received the item. While this could have been a nightmare transaction of myself misidentifying an items it turned out to be a coat just as fascinating as my original misidentification. The two names on the coat both belong to two 3rd Marine Division vets who both served in the same unit, the 12th Marines. Both participated in the Battle of Iwo Jima, with one Marine receiving a Purple Heart for wounds received in battle. I will have to request their records to get more info on these two Marines. Mistakes happen when IDing items from time to time, this being a good example.
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