American Heritage Posted January 22, 2014 Share #1 Posted January 22, 2014 this was a nice jacket that showed up on the auction! He was on at least Iwo Jima and probably additional campaigns. The 19th Rgt was joined with the 21st Marines (Rein.) at Camp Elliot San Diego in 1943 I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
American Heritage Posted January 22, 2014 Author Share #2 Posted January 22, 2014 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
American Heritage Posted January 22, 2014 Author Share #3 Posted January 22, 2014 Obituary published in the Tulsa "Oklahoman" on Feb. 3, 2010 (Jacket found at estate sale in Tulsa OK) Royce Burton "R.B." Nelson went to a place of greater grace and love on 1/31/10 following a short illness. He was born on March 31, 1921 in Olney, TX to William Douglas and Myrtle Collins Nelson. He grew up in Oklahoma City and graduated from Capitol Hill High School where he was an outstanding basketball player, baseball pitcher, and track star, holding the Oklahoma State high jump record for many years. In later years, he was an accomplished golfer playing at Twin Hills Country Club in Oklahoma City and Tulsa Golf and Country Club. He had a long and distinguished career as the district manager of accounting and data processing for Oklahoma Natural Gas Company initially in Oklahoma City and later in Tulsa. He was very active in community service serving as president of The Exchange Club and The OK Kids Baseball Association and coaching YMCA and Civic League Youth Baseball for many years, including a 1965 State Championship team. He served bravely as a U.S. Marine in World War II, being part of the battles of Iwo Jima and the other key Pacific Islands. He served as a life-long role model for his family and others to always look for the potential of greater possibilities and persevere, regardless of the difficulty of the challenge. He made providing well for his family and giving them better opportunities than he had a major goal of his life. He was preceded in death by his loving wife of 65 years, Virginia Clydene Hyler Nelson, his parents, and five brothers and sisters. He is survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Melanie and Joe Adair of Chattanooga, TN, and his son and daughter-in-law, Richard Royce and Mulu Getachew Nelson and grandsons, Remington Royce and Nathaniel Getachew Nelson of Gaithersburg, MD. Also, his sister-in-law, June Hilton and nephew, Derek Hilton of Arlington, TX and Shelley and Harold Pace of Weatherford, TX. Also, his special friends, Becky and Bill Bowles of Tulsa, and all the loving and caring companions from the Visiting Angels Team. A life long animal lover, he would appreciate memorial contributions made to the Tulsa Humane Society. Visitation will be Thursday, February 4, 2010 from 4-6 P.M. and services will be Friday, February 5, 2010 at 11 A.M. at Moore's Southlawn Chapel. Burial will be with his wife at the lOOF Cemetery in Norman. Moore's Southlawn 918-663-2233. - See more at: http://www.legacy.co...h.njO0ulbH.dpuf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
American Heritage Posted January 22, 2014 Author Share #4 Posted January 22, 2014 Found this newespaper article of him as pitcher of the softball team "Any Old 10 Men" Become Island Softball Champs SOMEWHERE IN THE SOUTH PACFIC—A Softball team which started strictly as a gag has become the hottest tiling in these parts with a record of 23 straight victories. The ciub—if that's what you call an outfit which plays Softball between bombing raids on< diamonds anywhere it can find a level spot—sports the name of "Nelson's Asiatics" for its ace pitcher, PFC. Royce B. Nelson. They played their first game when their bluff was called after they jokingly declared they could whip the topdog Softball outfit in tlie area with "any old 10 men." For their audacity they took a 9-1 drubbing. "Then," said IstLt. John W. McCuiston jr., whose part-time duties are as athletic and morale officer, "we decided "to take this thing seriously. We broke out the outfit and picked out men who looked as if they could play ball or thought they could," After that came the string of 23 straight wins and two ties. Strangely, none of the team except Nelson has had any organized baseball or Softball experience. Nelson once pitched for an Oklahoma champion semi-pro club. http://diglib4.princeton.edu/historic/cgi-bin/historic?a=d&d=MarineCorpsChevron19431106-01.1.25&e=-------en-20--1--txt-IN-----# Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hessian Posted January 22, 2014 Share #5 Posted January 22, 2014 Nice score! Congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry K. Posted January 22, 2014 Share #6 Posted January 22, 2014 Nice pick-up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowlofRice Posted January 22, 2014 Share #7 Posted January 22, 2014 Wow, unit patches make Marines uniforms look so much better...when and why did they stop using them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uplandmod Posted January 22, 2014 Share #8 Posted January 22, 2014 Incredibly difficult to locate 3rd MarDiv Iwo vet uniforms it took me forever to locate my first one for my collection. The Marines stopped using SSI on Jan 1st 1947. I agree SSI on a Marine uniform is the best! LF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manayunkman Posted January 22, 2014 Share #9 Posted January 22, 2014 Very nice jacket and history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
American Heritage Posted January 24, 2014 Author Share #10 Posted January 24, 2014 Here is the uniform on display. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
American Heritage Posted January 24, 2014 Author Share #11 Posted January 24, 2014 and...as most of you already know.... always ask what else does the estate have of this Marine? Then they showed these items (dogtags, Asiatic-Pac ribbon with 3 campaign stars, cover EGA, and extra 3rd MarDiv Patch) and I also bought them in order to complete and preserve the group! So GLAD I ASKED! Great collecting day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
American Heritage Posted January 24, 2014 Author Share #12 Posted January 24, 2014 and the same items in their new home..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devildog34 Posted January 24, 2014 Share #13 Posted January 24, 2014 Fantastic love those WWII USMC tunics especially to Oklahoma guys Semper Fi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mndoss Posted January 24, 2014 Share #14 Posted January 24, 2014 Very nice find! It's great that you were able to keep this grouping together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dakota Posted January 24, 2014 Share #15 Posted January 24, 2014 WOW FANTASTIC! D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doomula5000 Posted January 24, 2014 Share #16 Posted January 24, 2014 Great uniform!! You guys know how I feel about 3rd MarDiv uniforms. Did you find out what his MOS is? Do you know what company he was in? If he was on Iwo he would have been with the 3rd Pioneer battalion, after Bougainville and Guam the 1st battalion 19th Marines were re-designated the 3rd Pioneer battalion in August of 1944 and participated in the Iwo Jima invasion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
American Heritage Posted January 24, 2014 Author Share #17 Posted January 24, 2014 thanks Doomula, he was borh a pioneer and comm guy if I recall my research on the muster rolls correctly. Then when he became a SGT he became a comm chief I think. He was in the HQ Co. of 2/19. I look forward to getting his personnel file to see for sure how he got to Iwo. I appreciate the comments on his possible expeditions history! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricardo Posted January 25, 2014 Share #18 Posted January 25, 2014 Very nice!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
American Heritage Posted January 25, 2014 Author Share #19 Posted January 25, 2014 THANKS TO GEOFF AT GOLDEN ARROW RESEARCH I ALREADY HAVE THIS MARINE'S PERSONNEL DOCS IN HAND VIA A .PDF FILE IN MY EMAIL!! I Just got this uniform this week and within a couple days I already have the records instead of waiting months for the copies as I had in the past! This is the way to go friends. Contact Geoff to get your records from NPRC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
American Heritage Posted January 25, 2014 Author Share #20 Posted January 25, 2014 unit assignments Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fstop61 Posted January 25, 2014 Share #21 Posted January 25, 2014 Excellent find-great jacket! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
American Heritage Posted January 25, 2014 Author Share #22 Posted January 25, 2014 expeditions / awards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
American Heritage Posted January 25, 2014 Author Share #23 Posted January 25, 2014 ltr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
American Heritage Posted January 25, 2014 Author Share #24 Posted January 25, 2014 embark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
American Heritage Posted January 25, 2014 Author Share #25 Posted January 25, 2014 embark 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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