Jump to content

Rag House Airborne Pickups in Years past


louie
 Share

Recommended Posts

And, let me reiterate - Louie does NOT mess w/ uniforms. What you see is how he found/finds them. He has taken me along and it is everything Louie, vintageproductions and kammo-man said. Very backbreaking, smelly in a way not of this universe (NASA should see what type of life is in those bales) - but he has some stone-cold killer gems.

 

Vintageproductions is also correct about how little it takes to get booted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, Bob hit the nail right on the head. One place for years never had crap..Now this was a surplus store that mostly carried civilian stuff. It was an old market converted to a surplus store in early fifties. The old Jewish guy would always say, this is all we got, take it or leave it. Then in the eighties he died. Another guy bought him out and let me go into attic and sort, and if I die from black lung it is def. this places fault. The stuff was in mountains of clothes. Much of it civilian, many bell bottom hippie pants from the sixties and seventies, but just keep looking and you will find. He had a bunch of jungle jackets he had bought from Oakland Army terminal in the early seventies. Now most of this stuff should have been left in VN or burned in Okinawa. A friend of mine used to drive a bulldozer and pile them up, and poof, up in smoke. Somehow these got through with all the Vietnam nasty red dirt still on some of them. But the patches, both SSI and pocket were to die for..He had a crapload of AAF A11 helmets, Marine Korean war HBT covers, Marine map cases w/ tactical marks on them. Tons of Ikes that all seemed to be from L.A. high school ROTC's, but in there found some great bullion AAF stuff. Double buckle boots, VN boots w/ the always present red dirt still in them. In the corner of attic many M38 and 41 field jackets , many w/AAF command patch and stripes still on them. But that place reeked of rat crap, prbly dead fossilized rats, dust from the New Deal era, you name it..In summer I think I lost 20 pounds sorting that, but the fun was too much to let go. You only live once and this was just too much fun.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now, here's a combo that no one would fake because it's too too bizarre! A crude cut down of an enlisted blouse with all the wrong combos it seems!

post-470-1250037783.jpg

post-470-1250037798.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now, here's a combo that no one would fake because it's too too bizarre! A crude cut down of an enlisted blouse with all the wrong combos it seems!

Close ups of two patches

post-470-1250037832.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

vintageproductions
Yes, Bob hit the nail right on the head. One place for years never had crap..Now this was a surplus store that mostly carried civilian stuff. It was an old market converted to a surplus store in early fifties. The old Jewish guy would always say, this is all we got, take it or leave it. Then in the eighties he died. Another guy bought him out and let me go into attic and sort, and if I die from black lung it is def. this places fault. The stuff was in mountains of clothes. Much of it civilian, many bell bottom hippie pants from the sixties and seventies, but just keep looking and you will find. He had a bunch of jungle jackets he had bought from Oakland Army terminal in the early seventies. Now most of this stuff should have been left in VN or burned in Okinawa. A friend of mine used to drive a bulldozer and pile them up, and poof, up in smoke. Somehow these got through with all the Vietnam nasty red dirt still on some of them. But the patches, both SSI and pocket were to die for..He had a crapload of AAF A11 helmets, Marine Korean war HBT covers, Marine map cases w/ tactical marks on them. Tons of Ikes that all seemed to be from L.A. high school ROTC's, but in there found some great bullion AAF stuff. Double buckle boots, VN boots w/ the always present red dirt still in them. In the corner of attic many M38 and 41 field jackets , many w/AAF command patch and stripes still on them. But that place reeked of rat crap, prbly dead fossilized rats, dust from the New Deal era, you name it..In summer I think I lost 20 pounds sorting that, but the fun was too much to let go. You only live once and this was just too much fun.

 

Ahhh!!, I know which one you are talking about. When you went upstairs and to the right was that room with the webgear in it. I remember one day going through a huge box there of VN era baseball hats. By the time we had dug through everything we probably bought of 100 Vietnamese made caps with embroidery or patches on them. Plus a lot of those A-11 had the Gosport tubes on the sides. I heard from a mutual frined of ours that, that building was sold a year or so ago, and divided up into smaller offices and shops. All the rag and surplus was blown out. Oh yeah, and there were 1000's of police department shirts scattered around the upstairs area as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

too bad the wing was gone! On this 508th ovel and one ribbon left but no other pin on stuff. Most of these type devices didn't survive in the rag mill.

post-470-1250118675.jpg

post-470-1250118689.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is one Treadhead has really liked for years..I just can't believe how people tossed these things out!

closeup of the bullion 69th I.D.

post-470-1250118871.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of only two Raiders I ever found. Other one was lost in flooded garage was on blues. This one has the only small fully embroidered patch I have ever found or seen, anywhere. Seen Aussie ones, big embroi. and small twill, but never this one. Guy was in 3rd Raider Btn. looked him up, and was from Chicago area.

post-470-1250120475.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...