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WW-II Marine Pilot's uniform


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I picked this up way back in late 1968 or early 1969 after I came home from Vietnam. It's a long and involved story and I won't go into it in detail here but suffice it to say that this gentleman moved onto my parents block in Chicago while I was in Nam and I met him after I came home. He and I shared several Saturday afternoon beers at his kitchen table over the fall of 1968 and winter/spring of 1969. It took several sessions for him to start talking about his own experiences and, during one beer & bull session, he told me he had been a Corsair pilot in WW-II and showed me his uniform. The next Saturday, he had it boxed up and gave it to me just as you see it here. Apparently I didn't crop the pics enough as only one would fit on this post. I'll follow it with another with the rest of the pics.

 

You can see the tunic, ribbons, wings, and the top of the Sam Berowne belt peeking out the collar of the shirt. there is also a tunic-material belt w/brass buckle and matching trousers but they don't show in the photo.

 

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Here's a shot of the ribbons and wings. The ribbons have some sort of cellophane covering on them and some of them seemed to have yellowed a bit in the summer heat in his attic.

 

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Here's the last two pics; a closer shot of the EGAs, the top of the Sam Browne, and the shirt. The only reason I loaded a separate photo of the shirt is that it's a bit unusual. It seems to be custom-made of a soft cotton or linen material. It has the typical Marine chevron-shaped pocket flaps but the cuffs have 2-button closures.

 

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NICE!!!

 

Who was he??? With the Navy Cross, Bronze Star, 4 Air Medals and 2 Purple Hearts, he had to have been a household name during WW2!

 

Dave

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NICE!!!

 

Who was he??? With the Navy Cross, Bronze Star, 4 Air Medals and 2 Purple Hearts, he had to have been a household name during WW2!

 

Dave

 

I don't know how much of a household name he was....he didn't crave or even enjoy the publicity like most fighter pilots did. He was a really nice gentleman, quiet and reserved and I very much enjoyed his company at those Saturday afternoon B&B sessions. His name was Christopher Magee and I am proud to have called him my friend.

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pathfinder505
I don't know how much of a household name he was....he didn't crave or even enjoy the publicity like most fighter pilots did. He was a really nice gentleman, quiet and reserved and I very much enjoyed his company at those Saturday afternoon B&B sessions. His name was Christopher Magee and I am proud to have called him my friend.

 

Here is the info on him:

Magee, Christopher L. 1LT (VMF-214) Sep 12-Oct 22, 1943 Air Mission

 

Does VMF-214 ring a bell??

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pathfinder505

Here is the citation

 

MAGEE, CHRISTOPHER L.

First Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps (Reserve)

Marine Fighting Squadron 214 (VMF-214), Marine Air Group 11 (MAG-14), 1st Marine Air Wing

Date of Action: September 12 - October 22, 1943

Citation:

The Navy Cross is presented to Christopher L. Magee, First Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps (Reserve), for extraordinary heroism as a Pilot of a Fighter Plane attached to Marine Fighting Squadron TWO HUNDRED FOURTEEN (VMF-214), operating against enemy Japanese forces in the Solomon Islands Area from September 12 to October 22, 1943. Displaying superb flying ability and fearless intrepidity, First Lieutenant Magee participated in numerous strike escorts, task force covers, fighter sweeps, strafing missions and patrols. As member of a division of four planes acting as task force cover on September 18, he daringly maneuvered his craft against thirty enemy dive bombers with fighter escorts and, pressing home his attack with skill and determination, destroyed two dive bombers and probably a third. During two subsequent fighter sweeps over Kahili Airdrome on October 17 - 18, he valiantly engaged superior numbers of Japanese fighters which attempted to intercept our forces and succeeded in shooting down five Zeros. The following day, volunteering to strafe Kara Airfield, Bougainville Island, he dived with one other plane through intense antiaircraft fire to a 40-foot level in a strafing run, leaving eight enemy aircraft blazing. First Lieutenant Magee's brilliant airmanship and indomitable fighting spirit contributed to the success of many vital missions and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

SPOT AWARD, Serial 00164 (SofN Signed September 29, 1944)

Born: at Omaha, Nebraska

Home Town: Chicago, Illinois

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WOW... he was an impressive Fighter Ace!!!!!

 

 

Christopher Magee, War Hero

From: Chicago Sun-Times Date: January 2, 1996

 

Christopher L. Magee, 78, a decorated World War II fighter pilot ace and self-styled soldier of fortune died Wednesday in the West Side Veteran's Administration Hospital.

 

Mr. Magee, formerly of Chicago and Lake Forest, was a member of the Marine Corps' legendary "Black Sheep" squadron. He was awarded the Navy Cross, the service's second-highest honor, for downing nine Japanese planes and single-handedly taking on a formation of 15 dive-bombers, two of which were shot down and a third of which was set afire.

 

Here's his biography: http://www.acepilots.com/usmc_magee.html

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pathfinder505

Found this on a google search. His cousin wrote High Flight!!

 

Chris Magee

Ace of VMF-214 in WW2

In later years, Chris Magee's wartime reputation built him up into a wild man, a bearded, bandana-wearing, grenade-tossing eccentric. The stories have some basis in fact, but actually Magee was a fine pilot, the second-highest scoring VMF-214 ace, credited with downing nine Japanese planes, and winner of the Navy Cross.

The grenade-throwing legends originated one day in September, 1943 when the Black Sheep flew a barge-busting mission. Over Choiseul, they found a 70-foot junk. As the Corsairs swarmed over it, Magee pulled out his unauthorized grenade. He struggled mightily to pull the pin, almost breaking his teeth, eventually freeing it on the second pass. He tossed it overboard, and it somehow landed on the junk. The grenade exploded as the Corsairs raked the junk with .50 caliber machine gun fire. They left it burning and headed home. Trying to land, Magee earned his nickname "Wild Man" when he calmly brought his Corsair in for a dead-stick landing, blowing down his wheels with the emergency CO2 bottle just over the runway. Hours later, he was back in the air, on another combat mission.

First Lieutenant Christopher L. Magee grew up in Chicago. When the war broke out in 1939, he wanted to sign up as soon as he could. (Magee's cousin, John Magee, was also an RCAF pilot, and wrote the famous poem "High Flight" shortly before being shot down over the English Channel.) In his first try, he enlisted in the USAAf's flying cadet program. After a few months, and with 25 hours flying time in his log book, he went north in mid-1941 to join the RCAF. Training dragged on through the end of the year, and into early 1942. By now, the U.S. was at war, and recruiters scoured the RCAF camps for volunteers. With a promise of an early combat flying assignment with the Marines, they got Chris to return to American service. From July through November, 1942, he continued training, flying the ubiquitous North American Harvard trainer. After receiving his wings of gold in November, he joined the Marine Corps, flying F4F Wildcats for them in Jacksonville, Florida. Finally, on June 5, 1943, Magee boarded the Rochambeau, a French liner converted to a troopship, for the journey to the South Pacific.

First assigned to VMF-124, in July and August, he familiarized himself with the F4U Corsair, then the hottest fighter plane in theater.

With the Black Sheep

In early September, he joined the newly-reorganized VMF-214, soon to be dubbed The Black Sheep, commanded by the legendary Greg Boyington. Chris missed out on their first combat mission, but two days later, on Sept. 16, he found all the aerial fighting he could have wished for. In the melee, the Black Sheep tallied eleven confirmed kills; Chris got a probable. On the 17th, they moved up to that most disagreeable of bases, Munda, still reeking of unburied Japanese bodies.

September 18

He got a late start for the CAP; the Corsairs were assigned to cover naval forces involved in a landing on Vila. Flying at 13,000 feet, Magee spotted about 30 Vals heading for our ships. The dive bombers were below him, and he used his altitude advantage to shoot one down. He chased the others into the ships' anti-aircraft fire and down onto the deck. He cut one out of the pack, and "blew it to pieces." Intent on the Vals, he didn't see the Zeroes that swooped down on him, their bullets riddling his Corsair and smacking into his armored headrest. He escaped by flying closer into the AA fire, which the Japanese fighters avoided. When the day was done, he had two confirmed aerial victories, thirty bullet holes in his airplane, and one recommendation for a Navy Cross.

It was the last time (until their last day of combat) that the Black Sheep shot down a Val dive bomber; all their later battles were against fighters.

Chris didn't do too much flying until Oct. 17, when he shot down two more Zeros, and then three the next day.

During the second tour, he scored on Dec. 23, a day when wild maneuvers at high altitudes combined with an intermittent oxygen system to disorient him with hypoxia. Ed Heier flew by, and signalled to 'join up', but Magee was too confused to respond. He descended to a lower, oxygen-rich level and recovered. His last kill came on December 28.

Not long after Pappy Boyington was lost, VMF-214, the Black Sheep squadron, was broken up. Chris, Bob McClurg, Jim Hill, and several other Black Sheep joined VMF-211, stationed on Green Island. There wasn't much Japanese aerial opposition left, and none of the pilots engaged enemy aircraft during the six-week tour. About the most exciting thing that happened to Chris was when he saved Jim Hill from the incoming tide.

Returning stateside, Chris was assigned to the Cherry Point NAS in North Carolina, where he met Molly Cleary, whom he soon married. His unit, VMF-911, flew Grumman F7F Tigercats, powerful twin-engined fighters that didn't see any action in WWII. Soon after the war ended, Magee joined many of the other Black Sheep for a raucous welcoming party for Greg Boyington, held in San Francisco's St. Francis Hotel.

When he was released from service in Oct. 1945, he returned to Chicago with his young family. He briefly went into bootlegging with his boyhood friend, Ed Smart. The next year they got involved with a group of "businessmen," and acted as couriers to Latin America.

In May 1948, he answered an ad for fighter pilots, placed by the Israeli Haganah (defense forces). His wife Molly, now caring for two youngsters, was cool to the plan, but did not object. After an indirect trip through Europe, Chris and the other pilots joined Israel's 101st Fighter Squadron, "The Angels of Death." They flew Avia S-199's, a Czech-built version of the Messerschmitt. (Check out Rudy Augarten's story. Link can be slow-loading.) The planes were not very good: underpowered, with poorly synchronized machine guns, and with poor landing characteristics. Chris never encountered an enemy plane, nor had the opportunity to fire his guns. The entire scene was not what he had expected, so in Oct. 1948, he left Israel, and returned to the States, He found that Molly had divorced him, taken their two young children, and moved away. He never saw her again.

In the early 1950's, Chris worked again as a courier for the shadowy organization that had employed him earlier. In 1955, he hit rock bottom, robbing a bank. In early 1957, he pulled another bank heist. He was ultimately convicted of robbing a third bank as well, sentenced to fifteen years, and entered Leavenworth Prison in 1959.

After his release in 1967, he lived quietly, almost anonymously, in the Chicago area. When Frank Walton looked up all the Black Sheep in 1976, Chris replied in a moving and poetic letter. Then, Chris disappeared again and did not attend any Black Sheep reunions for many years.

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pathfinder505

Lost Black Sheep: The Search for WWII Ace Chris Magee, by Robert T. Reed

 

The story of Chris Magee (a complete biography) and also the story of Robert Reed, who in mid-life set off on a personal quest to find Chris Magee. It's an incredibly moving story - about much more than planes and guns and war-time heroism.

 

Buy 'Lost Black Sheep' at Amazon.com

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Here is Captain Magee's bio:

 

MAGEE, Christopher Lyman 016480

Born: 12 June 1917, Omaha, Nebraska

 

"Chris Magee joined the RCAF in 1941, but transferred to the Marine Corps and was commissioned a 2nd Lt. wef Nov. 16, 1942. He joined VMF-214, The Black Sheep, and flew two tours. He was promoted to 1st Lt. wef May 31, 1943. He received a Navy Cross, and an AM. He was promoted to Capt. wef Mar. 31, 1944. He flew for Israel in the 1948-49 war, without claiming any victories. A disagreement with Uncle Sam led to incarceration in Atlanta, and Leavenworth, where he edited the prison newspaper. After his release he edited several community newspapers, and wrote poetry."

 

His claims follow; Total 9 confirmed:

 

Sept. 16, 1943 Zero prob

Sept. 18, 1943 2 Vals

Sept. 18, 1943 Val prob

Oct. 17, 1943 2 Zeke

Oct. 18, 1943 3 Zeke

Dec. 23, 1943 Zeke

Dec. 28, 1943 Tony

 

Considering his post war difficulties, it is no wonder that he might have been reticent about discussing his career.

 

Info taken from STARS & BARS--A Tribute to the American Fighter Ace 1920-1973 by Frank Olynyk.

 

You were lucky to have met such a gentleman.

 

Bagman

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Here is the info on him:

Magee, Christopher L. 1LT (VMF-214) Sep 12-Oct 22, 1943 Air Mission

 

Does VMF-214 ring a bell??

 

Yes, it does. It took a while to get it out of him but in one of our B&B sessions at his kitchen table he did tell me he had flown with the Black Sheep and that he ended the war with 9 kills. He never mentioned the Navy Cross and I only knew when I saw the ribbon on his uniform. None of that seemed to be all that important to him, though, and he viewed his accomplishments as about as significant as a crossing guard helping kids across the street - he was such a low-key sort of guy.

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Here is Captain Magee's bio:

 

MAGEE, Christopher Lyman 016480

Born: 12 June 1917, Omaha, Nebraska

 

"Chris Magee joined the RCAF in 1941, but transferred to the Marine Corps and was commissioned a 2nd Lt. wef Nov. 16, 1942. He joined VMF-214, The Black Sheep, and flew two tours. He was promoted to 1st Lt. wef May 31, 1943. He received a Navy Cross, and an AM. He was promoted to Capt. wef Mar. 31, 1944. He flew for Israel in the 1948-49 war, without claiming any victories. A disagreement with Uncle Sam led to incarceration in Atlanta, and Leavenworth, where he edited the prison newspaper. After his release he edited several community newspapers, and wrote poetry."

 

His claims follow; Total 9 confirmed:

 

Sept. 16, 1943 Zero prob

Sept. 18, 1943 2 Vals

Sept. 18, 1943 Val prob

Oct. 17, 1943 2 Zeke

Oct. 18, 1943 3 Zeke

Dec. 23, 1943 Zeke

Dec. 28, 1943 Tony

 

Considering his post war difficulties, it is no wonder that he might have been reticent about discussing his career.

 

Info taken from STARS & BARS--A Tribute to the American Fighter Ace 1920-1973 by Frank Olynyk.

 

You were lucky to have met such a gentleman.

 

Bagman

 

Yes, very lucky indeed. He really was a gentleman and I enjoyed his company very much when we had our BS sessions. Once we became comfortable with each other, we talked of freely many things. He was not proud of his low points but he talked about them in a matter-of-fact way and was quite philosophical about the various turns his life had taken.

 

I got married in late 1969 and moved to an apartment not far away and we remained in contact, though not as frequently as when I lived a couple houses away. My wife and I them bought a house and I saw him quite infrequently until he moved to be near a lady-friend. After thatm sadly, I lost contact with him.

 

I knew he had done considerable writing. He was a very good writer; he showed me some of his work and he motivated me to improve my writing skilles as well.

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teufelhunde.ret
Yes, very lucky indeed. He really was a gentleman and I enjoyed his company very much when we had our BS sessions. Once we became comfortable with each other, we talked of freely many things. He was not proud of his low points but he talked about them in a matter-of-fact way and was quite philosophical about the various turns his life had taken.

 

I got married in late 1969 and moved to an apartment not far away and we remained in contact, though not as frequently as when I lived a couple houses away. My wife and I them bought a house and I saw him quite infrequently until he moved to be near a lady-friend. After that sadly, I lost contact with him.

 

I knew he had done considerable writing. He was a very good writer; he showed me some of his work and he motivated me to improve my writing skills as well.

 

Hey Bill. You were indeed fortunate to have befriended this "exploratory warrior" and to have benefited from the experiences of this "Marine Corps Daddy". Let's hope, in the end, he finally shed all the demons... s/f Darrell

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Hey Bill. You were indeed fortunate to have befriended this "exploratory warrior" and to have benefited from the experiences of this "Marine Corps Daddy". Let's hope, in the end, he finally shed all the demons... s/f Darrell

 

Hi Darrell. I have not read any books about him but he certainly was a lost sheep, at least during the rather short amount of time I knew him. He was more than just a uniform to me. In fact, when he gave it to me, I tried to refuse, saying that his kids would want. That's when he told me he had no idea where his kids were or even if they were dead or alive and he wanted me, as a fellow conbat Marine, to have it. I felt bad but finally accepted and that seemed to make him happy.

 

He was kind, soft spoken, and friendly. At the same time, I could tell that there were things inside that troubled him (I recognized them from seeing similar ones in the mirror every day). We would laugh, drink, and joke around but I would never have characterized him as truly jovial; there was always a deep underlying sadness inside.

 

He often talked about his children and the fact he hadn't seen them in so long and did not know where they were. He'd basically written his wife off but he wanted desperately to see his children; he had not seen them since he went to Israel to fight in the 1948 war. He came to our wedding. My mother wasn't happy since she said she didn't want a "convict" at the wedding and was worried about what "the neighbors would say."

 

I told her that he was coming and if the neighbors didn't like it, they could stay home. He stayed for the church service and came to the reception where he stayed a short while before taking his leave. For a wedding gift, he gave us a poem he had written and had a calligrapher transfer onto parchment and we still have it in a nice ornate frame - he gave us the hand-written one as well which I treasure even more.

 

Others in the neighborhood also took a standoffish posture with him and while, outwardly reasonably civil to him, were decidedly cool. I don't know much about what happened in the time after I lost contact with him and didn't find out that he had passed away until several years after the fact. I wish I had stayed in contact with him after moving away but…..I didn’t. I also wish I had been able to do more for him but I was struggling with my own demons and could only do so much.

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Bill: Welcome home. As always wonderful stuff....amazing stuff you have been able to find....call you in the morning.

 

Hi Dirk and thanks for the kind words. I won't be in the office tomorrow. I have a VA appointment and will be out on a sick day.

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Bill,

Thank you for a great story and insight. As a vet myself we always have to deal with the good and the bad of our careers. I love the fact both of you guys were repsectful to each other regardless of the "demons". Who of us can cast the first stone/ Surely, not me. The uniform is trulyl a treasure. the relationship truly a one of a kind. Togather they are priceless.

Tanks for sharing the uniform the feelings and the stories.

4starchris

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Bill,

Thank you for a great story and insight. As a vet myself we always have to deal with the good and the bad of our careers. I love the fact both of you guys were repsectful to each other regardless of the "demons". Who of us can cast the first stone/ Surely, not me. The uniform is trulyl a treasure. the relationship truly a one of a kind. Togather they are priceless.

Tanks for sharing the uniform the feelings and the stories.

4starchris

 

Thanks for the kind words, Chris. The uniform he gave me truly is priceless to me.

 

It came from a man I genuinely admired and called a friend well before finding out anything about his war background. It would still be priceless to me had he been a noncombat type who never left the states just because of the man he was and our friendship.

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Thanks for sharing...I truly enjoyed seeing the uniform and reading the story of the veteran who wore it. You were both truly lucky to find one another! Congrats and thanks!

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