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Some Old Marine Signed Photo I Found Today


vintageproductions
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LOL. Yeah, Basilone's middle name seems to be hard to nail down. It's not even given in the WW2 USN/USMC/CG casualty lists.

 

Speaking of which, it appears that John V. Bosse IS in the casualty lists as wounded (from New York), but lists his rank as Pfc. If it happened to be the same vet, it could certainly match up with the story from the estate.

 

The image and the handwriting do look a lot like Basilone's. Still, that 5th character in the last name does NOT look like an "L". The name and unit just don't seem to match up correctly.

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vintageproductions

It could be Bosse as doing a quick search on him shows in 1944 he was at Terminal Island, which is part of Long Beach, California.

 

The image and the signature have a helluva lot of similarities. When you compare the sigs, a lot of the letters sure do match.

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Here are some muster rolls on Bosse...

 

Name: John V Bosse Muster Date: Oct 1945 Rank: Corporal Station: Second Battalion, Fourth Marines, Sixth Marine Division, Yokosuka Naval Base, Honshu, Japan

 

Name: John V Bosse Muster Date: Jan 1946 Rank: Sergeant Station: Discharge Section, Separation Company, Mb, Usntc, Bainbridge, Maryland
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Remember too, it says "To my best friend Bob." Basilone apparently didn't sign many autopgraphs at all (very few ever surface for sale) so I doubt he'd write something like "to my best friend" to a stranger. The couple of examples we do know about show him wishing good luck or best of luck. There are a lot of points in the writing on Bob's photo that do match up with writing in the known legitimate Basilone signatures. But, the middle initial and 4th Regt for sure do not cut it.

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vintageproductions

Bosse still sounds like quite the Marine in his own right!

 

No kidding... He has a great record.

 

Would still love to know about that helmet and net he is holding.

 

I am not a gun guy but when did the Marines do away with round Thompson magazines?

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I don't think that the fact that it is most likely Bosse makes it any less important. A stunning, personalized image of a true combat Marine holding seldom seen helmet/net combination.

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Would still love to know about that helmet and net he is holding.

 

 

I would bet that was taken before he got wounded: the Marines didn't wear helmet covers at Guadalcanal, but they did make nets and the one in the photos is very similar to one posted elsewehere:

 

usmchelmnet.jpeg

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Looking at the cars in the back round of the photo Im thinking hes stateside.

 

More than likely its one of the hand tied nets made individually.I think there is a manual on camouflage that shows these in use or how to make.

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Catfishcraig

I don't think that the fact that it is most likely Bosse makes it any less important. A stunning, personalized image of a true combat Marine holding seldom seen helmet/net combination.

Agreed. Bosse or Basilone I would love to hang this picture in my office (that is if I had one).

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