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First Sergeant Estate Items


DaddyDog
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As luck would have it...a forum member here has the other portion of this collection that I was unable to win at the estate auction.

Member "Tyler_maccer_reeves" was able to buy some very nice items pictured below. Nice to see it all together again! :)

 

francisklaibersclassaun.jpg

 

francisklaibersbattleun.jpg

francisklaibersclassaun.jpg

 

francisklaibersbringbac.jpg

 

francisklaibersclassaun.jpg

 

francisklaibersgarrison.jpg

francisklaibersgarrison.jpg

francisklaiberssummerha.jpg

francisklaiberssummerha.jpg

francisklaibersuniforms.jpg

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Tyler_maccer_reeves

After looking through this post, ive noticed a lot of people have different stories about Francis Klaiber. After talking to his son and through reserch and various other observations i've found out that...

 

Francis A Klaiber was born in 1909 and died in 1963 about 15 minutes from my home. A vet of WW2 and the Korean war. if you notice Klaiber earned the American Defence medal because of his service before WW2. While talking to his son i found out three main things about Francis, He was at Pearl Harbor in 1941 during the attack i am not 100% sure, Francis earned the Silver Star in the Philipeans, all his son knew is that Francis saved a lot of people. The japanese Nambu type-14 you sewe above was from a KIA Japanese, and was issued in the philippines, Francis's son knoew NOTHING of the nambu which means ther was some kind of tramatic expierence attached to it. and lastly Francis HATED being a warrent officer, he wanted to be on the field more than anything (his son stated) Through WW2 Francis served in the pacific theitor/philippines. when the war came to an end francis was used elsewhere in Alaska/ alucion islands. later came the Korean war. Francis's son only knew his father served in the war, nothing more. Sadly Francis died shortly after his service came to an end, his wife Dorthy lived out the rest of her life and died in 2010, everything was put up for auction.

 

The pants i have to go with the class A suit are dated 1947, Klaiber was a 1st sergent then immeditally a WOJG at the very end of korea

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Tyler_maccer_reeves

i made a small mistake at the end there, this is true - Klaiber was a 1st sergent at the end of korea. Francis didnt become a WOJG until right after then korean war, which ended in 1953. Then Klaiber retired in 1957.

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  • 11 years later...

Sorry to bring back up this topic after so long.  My father, Henry, is the oldest son of Francis and knew a little more about the Silver Star even though he said his Dad rarely talked about the war.  Apparently stationed in the pacific his unit was at an airfield (maybe New Zealand but not sure) and they came under aerial attack.  There was a fuel truck parked in the middle of the unit where everyone was staying (sleeping?) and also where the equipment was.  While under attack, Francis jumped in the truck and drove it out of harm's way preventing an explosion the potential damages that would have caused to equipment and people.  Apparently the truck survived the attack and never exploded.  

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AxolotlHelmet

 

1 hour ago, Mongoose0318 said:

Sorry to bring back up this topic after so long.  My father, Henry, is the oldest son of Francis and knew a little more about the Silver Star even though he said his Dad rarely talked about the war.  Apparently stationed in the pacific his unit was at an airfield (maybe New Zealand but not sure) and they came under aerial attack.  There was a fuel truck parked in the middle of the unit where everyone was staying (sleeping?) and also where the equipment was.  While under attack, Francis jumped in the truck and drove it out of harm's way preventing an explosion the potential damages that would have caused to equipment and people.  Apparently the truck survived the attack and never exploded.  

Here's newspaper clipping that corroborates and adds to the story!

The_Daily_Item_1942_11_27_page_13.jpg

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Great find.  Adds so much more context.  Will share it with family who always wanted to know a little more about this period.  They did know he was with MacArthur's group for a long period of the war.

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