My WWI and WWII Silver ID Bracelet Collection

[gauthieb3sxz]

Does anyone else collect these?

 

[John Conway]

Yes - love 'em but I have never got them all in one place to photograph them. Looks like you have some infinite research potential there!

[Jay V]

Yes ,just started awhile Back!! Hard to find at a decent price though.

[Gator]

Yes...yes..yes

[sundance]

I have a couple but I don't see them very often.

[Sarge8]

Nice collection- every one a story to be told.

[Bluehawk]

This is a really nice niche collection... having worn one similar to some of those in the early 1960s.

 

Would it be possible, if not a lot of trouble, to see a photo of all those laid out so that the inscriptions could be read?

[rustywings]

Does anyone else collect these?

 

 

Wow! What a treasure-trove of interesting looking ID bracelets! I enjoy collecting U.S. aviation related and CBI-made bracelets.

 

I'm sure there's more than a few of us who would love a closer look at your bracelets when you have time...

 

[BEAST]

I also would like to see close-ups of the bracelets. I only have a few in my collection, but I really like the variety and the research that can be done on the vets.

[gauthieb3sxz]

Hey Guys,

 

Thanks! I've been picking these up off ebay for roughly 20-30 bucks a piece. Lots of great stuff out there. My favorite is from a guy from my hometown who was a tail gunner who was shot down:

https://portraitofwar.com/2016/01/31/wwii-sterling-silver-id-bracelet-walter-ciesla-southbridge-hometown-hero/

 

[johnny12550]

I have a few and pick them up whenever I can. Have you ever seen one like this? I've never seen one. Combat Aircrew wings on an Airship / Blimp. Must have belonged to a Navy Enlisted man.

[johnny12550]

I actually just picked one named to a Nurse in the CBI Theater. It has the enamel CBI theater insignia with her name and N prefix serial number. I will post a pic when I get the time

[gauthieb3sxz]

Wow - Nice! I have seen that aircrew one before but can't remember the details. I still need to photograph the collection individually.. it's still growing. I would love to see a CBI enameled nurse bracelet. Please post!

[mhalstead1950]

Great collection of them you've got going on, hours of time just waiting to be used for research.

[gauthieb3sxz]

Here's a good one from a Vermonter (my collecting field) - He as from Barre Vt and was severely wounded in action on July 22nd, 1918. I imagine that he was wearing this bracelet at the time.

[johnny12550]

front of CBI

[johnny12550]

back with N prefix service number

[Longbranch]

These are one of my favorite militaria-related items. I pick them up whenever I find them at a decent price.

 

These ID bracelets are VERY iconic and can be seen in lots of pictures of Army/Navy/USMC personnel from the WW2 era. Plus, they make awesome research projects.

[Onehope]

Hi

 

My father lost his WW2 nickel Arm ID bracelet in NJ in the 1970s in a Mall.

 

It was his favorite and never was found. He has since passed, but I keep trying to find it?

 

It had his name on it" Capt Michael E. Petrone" and I recall a number 0569749

 

Should anyone see this, please remember me. I will reward the finder.

 

Thank you.

Michael Petrone, Jr.

 

 

[stratasfan]

Thanks for posting all the pics! I love these bracelets, although I've yet to see one myself. I particularly like when they mad their own from dog tags! Also, when wings are made into bracelets, too. So cool! Loved seeing the photos!

[bellasilva]

Awesome stuff! I've always been attracted to these, but so far have only added two to the collection. Three if you count the dog tag to the Sailor who was stationed on Maui during the Pearl Harbor bombing. He fashioned his 12/41 dated tag into a bracelet, but the bracelet is long gone

[johnny12550]

Got this WWII bracelet in today. John Collens eventually reached the rank of Major General, but during WW2 he was a bomber pilot. Below is a brief story of one of his missions and I'm sure he was wearing this bracelet when he was shot down. Its amazing the amount of information that can be found on the internet these days and how you can attach a story to an object.

 

 

He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in December 1942 and, after getting his pilot’s wings in April 1944, he was sent to Europe where he flew 28 combat missions in a B-17 with the 96th Bombardment Squadron.

 

On March 15, 1945, the 20-year-old Collens and his crew left their base in Foggia, Italy, for their 25th bombing mission, an oil refinery at Ruhland, Germany, 75 miles east of Berlin. Over Czechoslovakia, they took anti-aircraft fire and one round went through the gas tank. The fuel to return to Italy was gone. Another round took out the right engine and then one took out the left engine. The ball turret gunner, the only crew member younger than Collens, was wounded. After jettisoning the bombs, the plane was able to maintain altitude at 10,000 feet and Collens began looking for a place to land.

“We turned east toward the airfield at Lodz, Poland, having lost our ability to maintain altitude at 30,000 feet. The damaged engine was wind-milling and soon would be a source for fire,” said Collens. In the attempt to land in Lodz at the Russian airfield that had been designated as a refuge, the plane was buzzed by a Russian Yak and the crew hurriedly fired a Very pistol with the colors of the day in order to be allowed to land. The plane caught on fire on the sod runway and Russian troops assisted the crew in exiting the plane and threw dirt on the flames to extinguish them.

“We were closer there to the front line than where we were shot down. We could hear artillery,” said Collens. “The Russians weren’t prepared for us and there was another crew already there that had been shot down by the Yak plane.”

The crew slept in a barn on straw the first night. After using the steam bath the Russians had built in the barn, they were issued new underwear. “We put our flight suits back on over it and that’s what we wore for the next month until we were repatriated,” said Collens.

Time with the Russian troops was an eye-opener. “U.S. troops in the field were supplied with food from big trucks, but Russian troops lived off the land,” said Collens. He recounted seeing troops leading a cow on a rope which was shot, skinned and served for dinner that night and Polish women who were sent out to dig potatoes. He also saw huge mounds of earth in Poland overlaid with the dog tags and uniforms of the German soldiers buried there. “The Soviets were nice guys. I traded wings with a Soviet navigator,” said Collens.

After a month with the Russian army, the crew was sent back to Italy through Cairo and Benghazi and they flew three more missions. Collens is now the only living member of that crew.

 

 

[sundance]

I don't actively look for them but I grab them when I see them. They are about as personal as you get.