USMCRECON Posted August 21, 2007 Share #1 Posted August 21, 2007 I have a small group of American Legion and VFW uniforms fron the between the wars and early WW-II period and I thought I'd post a couple pictures if one here. I could only fit three pics in this post so will put the others in a follow-on. As you can see, this is from Pennsylvania and, with the 40&8 patch, clearly a WW-I veteran. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USMCRECON Posted August 21, 2007 Author Share #2 Posted August 21, 2007 Here are the rest of the pictures. The tunic has a WW-I victory medal, a pair of American Legion wings, and a Am Legion Past Commander's medal. There is a name in the inside pocket (middle picture) on the Jacob Reed, Phila label. One side of the overseas hat is at the bottom. I don't normally collect Veteran's organization uniforms but the couple that I do have just happened to catch my eye and I grabbed them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinBeyer Posted August 21, 2007 Share #3 Posted August 21, 2007 I don't normally collect Veteran's organization uniforms but the couple that I do have just happened to catch my eye and I grabbed them. I don't have any Veterans Organization uniforms myself, but I can see why you were attracted to these! Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Ragan Posted August 21, 2007 Share #4 Posted August 21, 2007 That is one super uniform! From the looks of the cap, this fellow was a veteran of the Air Service. VERY nice! I collect veterans organizations caps and insignia. One nice thing about that stuff, is that nobody reproduces it (at least that I've found). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SARGE Posted August 21, 2007 Share #5 Posted August 21, 2007 Bill, That is a super uniform. I have never seen the metal wings before. Could you post a closeup of the front and back of them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USMCRECON Posted August 21, 2007 Author Share #6 Posted August 21, 2007 Bill, That is a super uniform. I have never seen the metal wings before. Could you post a closeup of the front and back of them? Hi Sarge. I've had a devil of a time getting logged on after the upgrade of the site. I was finally able to log on laast evening for a little while than tried again with the exact same log-on info and got locked out. After a password chsnge this afternoon, I was finally able to get back in. I hope it "takes" this time. Anyway, that's why there has been a delay in my replies to your and other posts. I'm taking a quick break at work at the moment so can't do anything about the wings here. When I get home this evening I'll take another higher resolution photo of the wings and post them, assuming I'm able to log on again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USMCRECON Posted August 21, 2007 Author Share #7 Posted August 21, 2007 That is one super uniform! From the looks of the cap, this fellow was a veteran of the Air Service. VERY nice!I collect veterans organizations caps and insignia. One nice thing about that stuff, is that nobody reproduces it (at least that I've found). Hi Lee. I haven't done any research on the owner yet but it would appear he was Army Air Service. One more thing to add to my list of "to do's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USMCRECON Posted August 21, 2007 Author Share #8 Posted August 21, 2007 Bill, That is a super uniform. I have never seen the metal wings before. Could you post a closeup of the front and back of them? Hi Sarge. Here are the close-ups of the wings you asked for. I saved them at fairly high resolution in order for the printing on the wings to show. that means only one pic will fit in a post. this one is the front of the wings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USMCRECON Posted August 21, 2007 Author Share #9 Posted August 21, 2007 .........and here's the reverse side. It's totally devoid of any markings at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SARGE Posted August 22, 2007 Share #10 Posted August 22, 2007 Bill, Those wings are just plain neat! First time I have seen these. It is great to be able to learn something new and I am always discovering new goodies on the forum. Thanks for showing us this outstanding uniform and especially the wings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWalsh Posted August 22, 2007 Share #11 Posted August 22, 2007 From my understanding as an American Legion member, at least here in my state the Aerial Roundup is a statewide Legion membership drive, and actually conducted by airplane! In these parts I believe that the drill is to get some Legion members who are active with membership drives, and the state level American Legion elected office holders, then fly around the area and state with them and go to a bunch of smaller airports and conduct mini-membership drives in the areas they fly in to. It still goes on today and is still done! I believe that it's not that huge of a membership drive actually, at least not anymore (it's probably a mighty expensive proposition!), but as much a traditional thing as anything else, and one which goes way back in it's origins. And yes, as you can see a pin, like this wings pin on the uniform, is usually given to those who participate in the roundup. That help? Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USMCRECON Posted August 22, 2007 Author Share #12 Posted August 22, 2007 From my understanding as an American Legion member, at least here in my state the Aerial Roundup is a statewide Legion membership drive, and actually conducted by airplane! In these parts I believe that the drill is to get some Legion members who are active with membership drives, and the state level American Legion elected office holders, then fly around the area and state with them and go to a bunch of smaller airports and conduct mini-membership drives in the areas they fly in to. It still goes on today and is still done! I believe that it's not that huge of a membership drive actually, at least not anymore (it's probably a mighty expensive proposition!), but as much a traditional thing as anything else, and one which goes way back in it's origins. And yes, as you can see a pin, like this wings pin on the uniform, is usually given to those who participate in the roundup. That help? Mike Hi Mike. I have been a member of the American Legion (China Post #1) for several years and never heard of that program. Very interesting. Thanks for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Hudson Posted February 2, 2011 Share #13 Posted February 2, 2011 I've had an 1930's vintage American Legion uniform on display for a while and finally got around to taking some photos. This came with the original belt and tie in addition to the coat and trousers. It's from New York. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USMCRECON Posted May 9, 2011 Author Share #14 Posted May 9, 2011 I have a couple more Veteran's Organization uniforms. I thought I'd posted them at about the same time as I'd posted this one but I did a search and this was the only one that came up. I'll go ahead and append the other three to this one now; I apologize if they end up being redundant. This first one is from American Legion Post 45 in Connecticut. It has post number pins ("C" clasp closures) and American Legion patches on the lapels and a Connecticut patch on the shoulder. It also has three stars on each sleeve cuff....I don't know what that means; perhaps an officer in the post?? Most of the period American Legion uniforms have gold braid on the trouser seams but this pair have very light beige (maybe dirty white) wool felt leg stripes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USMCRECON Posted May 9, 2011 Author Share #15 Posted May 9, 2011 This next one is an American Legion uniform from Post #40 in Massachusetts. It has a Mass patch on one sleeve and a Plymouth Rock patch on the other. It has "C" clasp 40 and the American Legion badge on each lapel. The trousers have what I believe was the standard thin gold braid on the trouser legs. This one has WW-I, Mexican Border, and Legion ribbons over the left breast pocket. There's also a 20 years patch on the lower left sleeve but it's hardly visible in the picture. It has a Haymarket Clothing, Boston label inside the pocket but there's no name on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USMCRECON Posted May 9, 2011 Author Share #16 Posted May 9, 2011 The rest of the Mass Post 40 uniform pix: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USMCRECON Posted May 9, 2011 Author Share #17 Posted May 9, 2011 Finally, a VFW uniform. This one is named and, if I remember correctly, the seller told me the veteran had been a Marine officer in WW-I (I haven't checked that though) It had the same Haymarket Clothing Company, Boston tags as the previous one but it also has a Decatur IL Clothing Store label inside. The name Fay Ickes and Post 99 is penned on the tag in the inside pocket (Post 99 is in Decatur IL). This one has no collar brass but it does have a VFW patch on the shoulder along with one overseas chevron and two wound chevrons on the lower sleeves It also came with a brown leather belt, a heavy OD wool shirt with a large gas flap closure, and a pair or trousers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USMCRECON Posted May 9, 2011 Author Share #18 Posted May 9, 2011 American Legion uniform part 2: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USMCRECON Posted May 9, 2011 Author Share #19 Posted May 9, 2011 American Legion part 3 (last): Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SARGE Posted May 9, 2011 Share #20 Posted May 9, 2011 I really like the chevrons on the sleeves. Neat uniforms! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEAST Posted May 9, 2011 Share #21 Posted May 9, 2011 Not sure if it is the same Fay Ickes, but he is mentioned in "The Story of the American Legion" and is shown as a member of the 310th Field Signal Bn. http://books.google.com/books?id=IQ1nAAAAM...p;q&f=false Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USMCRECON Posted May 9, 2011 Author Share #22 Posted May 9, 2011 Not sure if it is the same Fay Ickes, but he is mentioned in "The Story of the American Legion" and is shown as a member of the 310th Field Signal Bn. http://books.google.com/books?id=IQ1nAAAAM...p;q&f=false I'm not sure it's the same guy. When he wore this uniform, he was a mamber of the VFW. I suppose he could have belonged to both organizations. I just don't know at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USMCRECON Posted May 9, 2011 Author Share #23 Posted May 9, 2011 Duplicate post.....sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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