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Need help with Jump Wings...


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Demon Lord-

 

The wing has simply been buffed. It is actually a fairly common occurrence with these wings. There is nothing wrong with this one.

 

Allan

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Office Equipment(as Allan said) made a very distinctive style of wings. ..you can spot them anywhere...GI's did it...almost like at one time it was the thing to do...a fad...I had one paratrooper tell me they did it on the ship coming home...rubbed them against the railing to polish them...it gave them a appearance of seeing the "elephant"...

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Office Equipment(as Allan said) made a very distinctive style of wings. ..you can spot them anywhere...GI's did it...almost like at one time it was the thing to do...a fad...I had one paratrooper tell me they did it on the ship coming home...rubbed them against the railing to polish them...it gave them a appearance of seeing the "elephant"...

 

odd! Thanks for the explanation!

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Basic parachutist badge.

 

Nobody rubbed them against anything to polish them-that was done with brasso or something similar.

 

I saw collar brass and other badges like this.

 

Some were treasured as being "salty" from years of daily shining.

 

Some were created by rubbing with something by posers or others wanting to create the worn salty look.

 

Same kind of guys who would hang a dozen qualification bars on marksmanship badges to look impressive on leave.

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Basic parachutist badge.

 

Nobody rubbed them against anything to polish them-that was done with brasso or something similar.

 

I saw collar brass and other badges like this.

 

Some were treasured as being "salty" from years of daily shining.

 

Some were created by rubbing with something by posers or others wanting to create the worn salty look.

 

Same kind of guys who would hang a dozen qualification bars on marksmanship badges to look impressive on leave.

I quite agree...these wings at times were heavily polished as many...all types of insignia could wind up with these same look.I disagree with your statement that some other agent could not be used to speed the process as rubbing against the rail.My friend still has his wings that are buffed down by him against the rail on the ship home.
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This type of "buffing" was far more common when units were on occupation duty that something done prior to VE or VJ Day. It is also something that is seen more frequently among specific units. As an example, A lot of times, if I see a buffed wing on a uniform, I figure it is far more likely that the soldier was in the 508th PIR than any of the other regiments. Conversely, it is rather uncommon to find a buffed wing on a 101st A/B uniform. I can't think of a specific instance where I have seen a buffed wing in the hands of a 101st vet. I don't want to put words in Mark Bando's mouth, but I have seen his wings and can say with certainty that I don't recall him having a single pair.

 

The 11th Airborne Division during the Occupation did all sorts of interesting things. You will actually see wings buffed in specific patterns among the 11th veterans. I've seen the canopy only buffed, the static lines only buffed, the canopy and shroud lines buffed but the wings left intact. I've even seen the parachute left alone and the wings buffed down. For those of you who have been to jump school at Ft. Benning, there is a long standing tradition that the youngest soldier going through jump school is given a jump wing at the beginning of the course with the instructions to keep them shined to a high gloss. This tradition goes back to the 11th Airborne's jump school in Japan. Since a wing with fewer details will shine more brightly, it was not uncommon for all of the details to be knocked off the wings being awarded to the "honor graduate" who received that wing that the young trooper kept polished.

 

As for the wing that started this thread, I would say that this is one of those examples where the GI continuously rubbed the wing on a rough surface to knock the details down. Tarbridge's explanation about the guys using the ship rails on the way home is one that I too have heard from other veterans.

 

Allan

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