1950's USMC HBT Corpsman Coat PhM1C

Here is a nice one that appeared recently: An HBT coat belonging to a three war vet, WWII Korea and Viet Nam. This coat belongs to his 50's era. This is a very nice example of a 50's Corpsman HBT coat complete with a hand stenciled navy rate on the sleeve and round pocket. Some nice research material here for the collector who purchased it.

Ikesgrunt's Iwo Jima Display Alpha Coat 3rd, 4th & 5th Marine Divisions

My friend Pat over at Ikesgrunt is also a Battle of Iwo Jima collector. Pat has also put together a 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions display representing the three divisions that landed at Iwo Jima. Like my display, each jacket is IDed to a Marine who participated in the Battle. Not only did he do a great job putting together a tribute for these three particular Marines, it is an visually impressive display that captures the pride of the USMC. Well Done!

WWII Navy Warrant Officer Pay Clerk USS Kaweah (AO-15) Officer Dress Whites

From the Archives: I picked up this officer dress White uniform at the Great Western Gunshow back in the 1990's for my The Sandpebbles impression I did at the time. I had this uniform in storage for a few years and didn't even know if was named or not. I managed to locate it this week and incredibly it had a name stamped and written in the coat. Although it was a common name the letter combination wasn't and I was able to ID the coat to a Warrant Officer who lived locally here at San Pedro, CA. He was a long time sailor enlisting in 1921 through 1946, and was finally made a Warrant Officer in his last year of service. Most all of his WWII career was aboard the USS Kawesh (A0-15) an Oiler that served ships on both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Sadly he died in 1956, only 10 years after being released from service, although his wife lived to 102 years old and passed away in 2007! It was great to finally locate and ID this coat it being the only Warrant Officer coat in my collection and an awesome tribute to a long serving sailor!

WWII USN Navy PhM1c White Navy Jumper USS Mississippi (BB-56)

Something I have been looking high and low for is an IDed Navy or Marine uniform belonging to a vet who was aboard one of the Battleships at The Battle Of Iwo Jima. It finally paid off a couple weeks when I came across this jumper who belong to a Pharmacist Mate 1st Class who was aboard the USS Mississippi during the battle amongst many others. He enlisted in 1942 and seemed to have a long time on the ship. Quiet excited to finally add a WWII Battleship vet jumper to my collection. Thank you for your service!

Merry Christmas 5th Marine Division 1945 Kyushu, Japan Label

Christmas comes a few months early with another nice addition to the 5th MarDiv Sasebo Occupation is this excellent "Merry Christmas 1945" label.

WWII USMC Marine Dog Tag Silencers

These four pictures happen to be from two separate auctions and were up at the same time. I recently had an interview from a Marine who was in the 2nd Armored Amphibious Battalion who participated in both the Battle of Saipan and the Battle of Iwo Jima. He stated at Saipan they cut up gas mask hoses and put the rubber ring from the hose around their service dog tags as a silencer to keep the tags from rattling and making noise. He said they were told to stop by upper ranks and they could get in trouble if they were found making them. What is great about these two separate auctions it appears that these two sets of Dog Tags were indeed made of gas mask hoses. A nice little detail that could be helpful with USMC reenactors.

Mac of Marines in China Big Little Book

I really enjoy discovering these vintage Marine related books, this one is Mac of the Marines in China, from the famous series of children books called Big Little Book.