Any interesting 66th ID uniforms out there?

[M4SHERMAN]

Anyone have any interesting 66th ID uniforms to share?

 

I have always felt the 66th and 106th were the two hardest luck units in the ETO with unfortunate starts, but despite this still fought hard

 

 

I have one in my collection I will post later to a member of the 263rd who served with the surviving remainder of the 66th until being mustered out with the 94th ID. I will post pics later

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[patches]

Here's two related topics. There's about two more I've found but their images are Photobuckets and stuff,, so they are no longer view able, so when you do post your stuff, no Off Line Image Host are allowed.

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/162-66th-infantry-division/

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/13568-66th-infantry-division-patches-and-tabs/

[Allan H.]

I guess this is as good a place as any to add a 66th Infantry Division Ike jacket. The soldier who wore this jacket was undoubtedly a replacement to the division after the sinking of the Leopoldville on Christmas eve 1944. I recall once meeting a veteran who was wearing a 66th Division ball cap. When I asked him about the sinking, he began to cry. He said that he was a smoker, but that they were only supposed to smoke on deck. He went out onto the deck and lit up a smoke. A few minutes later, the ship was hit by a torpedo. He ended up escaping death because he was a smoker. Had he not been, he would have been in his bunk five decks below. He said he had no doubt he would have died with his buddies as none of them made it out of the ship before it went down.

 

A couple of things stand out about the jacket. First, the stitching on the patches is impeccable, but I will save those for the next post. Here you can see the US and Infantry disks are screw back. The uniform sports a sterling CIB, English-made ribbon bar and a sterling marksman badge with rifle bar. I also find it interesting that the ruptured duck has been removed from the Ike. I've owned this jacket for years and have to assume that the patch was cut off shortly after it was added, but there is no mistaking that the patch was there.

[Allan H.]

Here you can see just how nice the stitching is on the shoulder patches and the overseas bars. Notice how every one of the o/seas bars are individually stitched to the jacket.

 

[Allan H.]

Finally, here you can see the laundry mark. I also think it is interesting to see that the CIB was attached with "top hat" fasteners, rather than the normal sterling clutch fasteners. I've often times heard veterans complain about how short the prongs were on the CIB and how tough it was to keep the "dammits" in place. They were called dammits because when they popped off, the wearer would invariably curse at their loss.

 

Allan

[Dave]

Allan-

 

I know that stitching isn't too unusual, but that patch and insignia combination is (at least in my opinion!) I think this is the one I sold back in 2004 or 2005...I really loved that Ike - got it from a really old collection in Maryland! Glad to see it's in a good home!!

Dave

[Allan H.]

Dave,

 

Interesting that you mention Maryland, as it could very well have come from our trip there and the HUGE uniform score.

 

Allan

[M4SHERMAN]

Here is mine, It has a laundry number, but I have never been able to get it definitively pinned down to a specific individual. One of my favorites and very clean and honest.

[Garandomatic]

Anybody know of a list of survivors? The casualties are well-documented, but I always wondered if my guy was a survivor or a replacement.

[M4SHERMAN]

Anybody know of a list of survivors? The casualties are well-documented, but I always wondered if my guy was a survivor or a replacement.

 

 

I have always wondered that about mine too, I'm inclined to think replacement, since just numbers wise you'd likely to see more of those just due to the losses.

[dan_the_hun84]

Allan-

 

I know that stitching isn't too unusual, but that patch and insignia combination is (at least in my opinion!) I think this is the one I sold back in 2004 or 2005...I really loved that Ike - got it from a really old collection in Maryland! Glad to see it's in a good home!!

 

Dave

 

 

 

 

I think I have this jacket identified..

 

T/5 Elmer J Odensos 33006430

http://wwii-enlistme...ecord/33006430/

http://www.findagrav...3079391&df=all

Last 4 of his SN# matches, rank matches the jacket, he came from the area the jacket was found in AND his wife passed away the same time that Dave pulled it from the woodwork...adds up to a strong case

[Allan H.]

Great detective work Dan. I think you have found him.

 

Allan

[hooahmp2010]

Sorry for the late reply. I collect 66th Infantry Division items too, and my grandfather was also a member of the 66th's 264th INF Regiment during WW2. He was one of 5,000 Black Panthers who after training in the U.S., was transferred to another Infantry Division as a replacement. There is a group called the Panther's Veteran's Organization (www.66thinfantrydivision.org) which is still around, but membership is dwindling. There were originally 40,000 members of the 66th. Below (Combined Arms Research Digital Library, previous Armor School Ft. Knox, KY) is a great resource for referencing unit members by unit, name, rank, home state etc. It also will tell you if your member was still with the unit as of 1945. There are literally thousands of names. http://cgsc.cdmhost.com/cdm/ref/collection/p4013coll8/id/3625