Some significant uniforms Three: Philippine Insurrection DSC recipient uniform

[mvmhm]

Last week, I did a large display for a WWI symposium at the Life Long Learning Center in Reynoldsburg, OH. One of the staff mentioned he had a couple of old "suits" he had tried to sell on eBay to raise money for a week long camp for autistic children and their parents. He asked if I could take a look at them to tell him if he was listing them right, and went home at lunch to get them. When he came back, he pulled out a M1898 khaki Cavalry Sergeant's uniform, named to one of his relatives in A Troop, 2nd Cavalry Regiment. it was dirty, but overall a super uniform. He also had this M1895 uniform, also from a relative, but the collar is pretty ratty. I told him what the nomenclature was, and what I had paid for the examples I bought to put on display. He sent me an email this week saying he'd sold the Cav uniform as soon as he relisted it, and asked if I was interested in this one. I decided I'd go ahead and buy it if it wasn't too much, and we reached an agreeable price that I could afford to pay (because of the damage) and that he needed to reach his goal. I went and got it yesterday. After I got back, I looked up the man, who turned out to be Colonel Alfred Aloe, a Jewish officer who was actually from St Louis, MO (my home state too). He enlisted in the Missouri Cavalry, then got commissioned and served in the PI, where he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. He didn't get the DSC until 1924, so I assume he originally got the Certificate of Merit (or the medal). He later went on to command the 12th Infantry Regiment, and died in 1926 during surgery for a kidney infection. He's buried in Arlington. Here's his DSC citation:

 

 

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Alfred Aloe, First Lieutenant (Infantry), U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism while serving with 12th Infantry, in action at Mozambique, Ilocos Norte, Philippine Islands, September 22, 1900. In the face of a heavy fire from insurgent forces, with great gallantry Lieutenant Aloe advanced to within 75 yards of the enemy's line and rescued the dead body, arms, and equipment of a soldier of his command and dressed the serious wounds of another.

• General Orders No. 10, War Department, 1924

Born: at St. Louis, Missouri

Home Town: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

 

 

[mvmhm]

The uniform has his name and a 1902 date as a Lt...I assume he bought this when he came back from the PI. By 1905-1906 he was Commander of the Cleveland recruiting station while a Captain (which is where this uniform was located). He also served in Hawaii and Minnesota (which is where he died).

[mvmhm]

One of the straps and the "OHIO" collar brass - each of those is held on by small pins/catches on the ends of the "O"s. You can see the extreme wear to the collar too. For the experts, as a recruiter, would he still have worn crossed rifles after the OHIO badgers???

 

 

That's all for now.....a good uniform week to be sure!

 

 

Mark sends