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1976 dated, US Army Coat


girltankette
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I have a US Army Green 344 Coat that belongs to a Lieutenant General named "William R. Lynch". I can not find any information on this general which is kind of strange considering he is a 3 star General I am hoping that someone here can help me out?

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Nice uniform. I found a William Ray Lynch Jr in the 1957 Register. He was born in Texas on 2nd Feb 1917. As of 1957 he was awarded the SS/LoM/BSM(3olc),PH. he enlisted June 1 1933 in the NG. He was a major from dec 1944 to july 1953. His serial number is 034268. The only difference I notice is that his BS ribbon on the uniform does not have 3 devices, but there are many cases where an soldier/officer did not put all of the stars/oak-leafs etc on their ribbons. I hope This info helps.

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I also found this on-line:

 

Birth: Feb. 2, 1917

Death: Feb. 27, 1995

 

BG, US ARMY

 

Burial:

Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery

San Antonio

Bexar County

Texas, USA

Plot: 14A, 0, 431

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The only difference I notice is that his BS ribbon on the uniform does not have 3 devices, but there are many cases where an soldier/officer did not put all of the stars/oak-leafs etc on their ribbons. I hope This info helps.

 

Jim,

If you look at the ribbons closely, it looks like the only device on any of the ribbons is the "60" bar on the Vietnam campaign.

The uniform is striking, but what is the story of the mannequin?!?! EEEK! w00t.gif

 

One last point- I believe that the PUC and Valorous Unit awards are flip-flopped.

Allan

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Girltankette,

What is the story here? you have some nice looking uniforms here and in the background as well as in other post? Do you own these or are they part of a clollection somewhere? Either way thanks fpr sharing all the pics.

4staarchris

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Girltankette,

What is the story here? you have some nice looking uniforms here and in the background as well as in other post? Do you own these or are they part of a clollection somewhere? Either way thanks fpr sharing all the pics.

4staarchris

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Girltankette,

What is the story here? you have some nice looking uniforms here and in the background as well as in other post? Do you own these or are they part of a clollection somewhere? Either way thanks fpr sharing all the pics.

4staarchris

Judging by another post in another section-- shilling for a dealer.

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Nice looking uniform there...

 

but that god-awful mannequin will haunt my dreams for the next week. Please, for the sake of the uniform on it, chop off the head of that mannequin!

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Nice looking uniform there...

 

but that god-awful mannequin will haunt my dreams for the next week. Please, for the sake of the uniform on it, chop off the head of that mannequin!

 

 

Looks like an old CPR resuscitation mannequin.

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No, you've all got it wrong...

 

It is an authentic "Raiders of the Lost Arc" Melting Nazi Statue!

 

He should have closed his eyes....

 

^_^

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Girltankette,

What is the story here? you have some nice looking uniforms here and in the background as well as in other post? Do you own these or are they part of a clollection somewhere? Either way thanks fpr sharing all the pics.

4staarchris

 

 

I work for the person who owns these uniforms. It is a private collection that is on display at the AAF Tank Museum in Danville, VA. This is why I have been trying to identify these men.

 

This is only a small portion of the uniform that we have

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  • 1 month later...
Guest wrlchaos
I work for the person who owns these uniforms. It is a private collection that is on display at the AAF Tank Museum in Danville, VA. This is why I have been trying to identify these men.

 

This is only a small portion of the uniform that we have

 

I stumbled across this forum while running a Google search for my own name. I just created an account in order to respond to this interesting thread.

 

Bg. Gen. William Ray Lynch Jr. was my Grandfather. He entered the infantry at a younger than normal age (not uncommon during WWII) and retired with a single star (enlisted to officer). During the Korean War he marched into Northern Korea and was also in charge of the 38th Parallel as a Colonel. He retired after serving in Vietnam and worked for the American Embassy in India. He is survived by my Grandmother, Juanita Lynch, who currently resides in Huntsville Texas.

 

His list of decorations is quite impressive; however, while I am uncertain of his entire note worthy accomplishments this is what I do know:

• WWII Campaigns in Italy, Africa & Germany

• Korean War

• Survived plane crash in Korea – Purple Heart

• Vietnam

• I believe silver star

• Commander of the National Guard forces that enforced the desegregation of the University of Alabama.

 

I have communicated your inquirary to my father (Ret Col WR Lynch III) and he has agreed to view the above photos to check the correctness of the uniform. My father did mention that there was another Lynch who was an Artillery General and possibly had two or 3 stars. It appears at first glance that the collector you represent purchased something that was misrepresented… I am very curious how it was acquired.

 

Also, I agree with everyone else… That mannequin is way out of control.

 

I will update this forum as soon as I have better information but if you have any more specific questions please let me know.

 

Thanks – William Ray Lynch IV

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Guest wrlchaos
I work for the person who owns these uniforms. It is a private collection that is on display at the AAF Tank Museum in Danville, VA. This is why I have been trying to identify these men.

 

This is only a small portion of the uniform that we have

 

Photos from Korea

1. Lynch - Center

2. Lynch – Left Lower

3. Lynch - Left Center

post-2694-1204938991.jpg

post-2694-1204939001.jpg

post-2694-1204939024.jpg

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I find the coat rather "suspect." No stars on any of the service medals, no overseas bars on the cuff, and he has a Distinguished Flying Cross??? I know it was easy for non-aviation senior officers to get an Air Medal or two in Vietnam, but a DFC??? It also looks like he has a Ranger tab. It would be interesting to see what his left shoulder (i.e., current unit) patch is. That would provide the biggest clue on how to ID him (assuming it's a legit coat).

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Guest wrlchaos
I find the coat rather "suspect." No stars on any of the service medals, no overseas bars on the cuff, and he has a Distinguished Flying Cross??? I know it was easy for non-aviation senior officers to get an Air Medal or two in Vietnam, but a DFC??? It also looks like he has a Ranger tab. It would be interesting to see what his left shoulder (i.e., current unit) patch is. That would provide the biggest clue on how to ID him (assuming it's a legit coat).

 

He was definitely a Ranger but unless he received a Distinguished Flying Cross in Korea when he was shot down I am not aware of how he could have been awarded this. When I my father has a chance to view the uniform he should be able to answer with certainty.

 

Here's a photo of the the plane after the crash landing:

post-2694-1204939929.jpg

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UPDATE:

 

Today I received information from a friend to the widow of General Lynch.

 

Apparently one of the other family members saw the uniform girltankette posted and just wanted to make the following comment:

 

... the rank is incorrect as well as several

decorations. There was never a Lt Gen William R Lynch

in the army. All biographical info on the General's

background was correct.

 

I have forwarded the information to girltankette and I have asked the family to provide the correction so that it can be made. :)

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Very nice. I had tried to locate info on Lynch earlier for the AAF museum, but found nothing, probably because I was chasing an LTG and not a BG.

 

G

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Well, the grandson is a member here and it looks like other family members are watching. So, hopefully soon we'll be able to put an end of the mystery.

 

(By the way, welcome wrlchaos and thanks for the great pics of him!!!)

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girltankette

First I would like to say sorry to the Mr. Lynch's family for any confusion this post has caused. When I posted this topic here it was for research purposes. I was hoping maybe another forum member with more qualifications would be able to help me idenitfy this uniform as Mr. Lynch's or not. I could not (like Gil) find anything on a LTG William Lynch. After the first post to this thread we decided to do further research for him as a BG. We are not sure if this uniform belongs to him, we do have another uniform however for a Lynch (inked inside) that was a BG we are hoping the family can help us find out if this uniform belongs to their relative or not. We are going to do further research to try to identify who this uniform might belong to, since it does not look like it belongs to William Ray Lynch Jr.

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  • 14 years later...
On 3/7/2008 at 8:23 PM, KurtA said:

I find the coat rather "suspect." No stars on any of the service medals, no overseas bars on the cuff, and he has a Distinguished Flying Cross??? I know it was easy for non-aviation senior officers to get an Air Medal or two in Vietnam, but a DFC??? It also looks like he has a Ranger tab. It would be interesting to see what his left shoulder (i.e., current unit) patch is. That would provide the biggest clue on how to ID him (assuming it's a legit coat).

 

On 3/7/2008 at 8:32 PM, Guest wrlchaos said:

 

He was definitely a Ranger but unless he received a Distinguished Flying Cross in Korea when he was shot down I am not aware of how he could have been awarded this. When I my father has a chance to view the uniform he should be able to answer with certainty.

 

Here's a photo of the the plane after the crash landing:

post-2694-1204939929.jpg

I have no information on the legitimacy of the uniform, but considering a non-aviation type with a DFC "suspect" is not accurate. During the Vietnam War, it was fairly common for DFC's to be awarded to infantry and artillery battalion commanders, brigade and division commanders, and even some high ranking staff officers. Oftentimes you will find citations that describe how an infantry battalion commander arrived over the scene of a ground battle in which his troops in his command and control helicopter, quickly assessed the situation and calmly remained in the air coordinating the employment of his troops while being subjected to ground fire. 

 

As an example, my father's own battalion commander - LTC Grace G. Thomas of the 1/505th Infantry - earned a DFC while being a passeneger in a command and control helicopter that hovered over an NVA bunker while he dropped a grenade on it and supposedly wiped out the soldiers manning a machine gun in the bunker. I'm not saying that type of action is not worthy of an award, but I think they tended to be a little exaggerated.

 

https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/500716

 

   

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