Picked this one up at an estate sale. Markings inside look like VAREY-SHEA 1942. How do I find info on this guy without his serial number?

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Dave, this is just my opinion, but I would say, based on the format of the stenciled name, that you are trying to ID a Marine. If you are lucky, he may have been an officer. That might make it a bit easier to track down. I presume there is a register of Marine Corps officers out there somewhere.

I can't find the person on NARA. There is a Koch, Dennis W. Jr. Thats the closest one I find.

No doubt that's a name stencil done in the Naval services format so could also been a Navy guy. I know the Marines had their own version of the field ("musette") bag starting in 1940 and I would normally expect a Marine, especially an officer, to have used one of those but anything's possible. In the early days of Marine Corps use of those bags they were primarily used by officers and USMC documentation calls it an "officer's pack".

Here are a couple pics of a 1942 dated USMC officer's pack made by Atlantic Products. Notice that it's rigged up for back pack carry including shoulder straps pads.

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What is the difference between the Army and the Marine musette bag?

There were two generations of USMC musette bags. The first made from 1940-1942 was basically a copy of the Army M1936 bag with modified carrying straps and the addition of those shoulder pads. The second was designed specifically for the Marines and a provision for carrying over the shoulder or converting it into a back pack.

Thanks for the info so far. At the estate sale, I also picked up one piece of trench art, a small vase made from a 40mm shell casing. Also missed out on a cartridge pouch of some kind, when I asked if there were any other military items the lady running the sale said she already sold a "canvas thingy that held bullets". No joy on finding anything about Koch locally. The house the sale was in was absolutely trashed. Apparently two old guys lived there, one died about 2 years ago and the other a few months ago. The relatives are from out of state and didn't even show up for the sale, they just had some local amateurs sell the stuff. What a mess. Darn shame that what were probably a pair of WWII vets ended up that way.