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Americal Division Uniform


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I have some money burning a hole in my PayPal account. lol So I have been searching everywhere for uniforms. and I came across this:

 

il_fullxfull.374101203_g0et_zps2c3505fa.jpg

 

Excuse my ignorance if this is a stupid question, but Is this correct? Or something someone put together?

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This one is interesting.

 

The combat patch is for the Americal Division, many elements of which got a Navy PUC (which it has) for reinforcing the the Marines on Guadalcanal.

 

Be interesting to know if any of the Americal units were either authorized to or unofficially took it upon themselves to wear the 2nd Marine Division patch.

 

The uniform obviously shows a Purple Heart ribbon and a Port of Embarkation SSI as well. Could the soldier who owned this have been a wounded Americal vet who served on Guadalcanal and after recovery served in the POE ??

 

Other issue I see is collar brass; one should be US; the other branch of service, not 2 US.

 

Hold up--

 

Just found this:

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...c=37301&hl=

 

Other Americal uniforms with Marine patches. This is cool. If the price is right I'd grab it!

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This one is interesting.

 

The combat patch is for the Americal Division, many elements of which got a Navy PUC (which it has) for reinforcing the the 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal.

 

Be interesting to know if any of the Americal units were either authorized to or unofficially took it upon themselves to wear the 1st Marine Division patch.

 

The uniform obviously shows a Purple Heart ribbon and a Port of Embarkation SSI as well. Could the soldier who owned this have been a wounded Americal vet who served on Guadalcanal and after recovery served in the POE ??

 

Other issue I see is collar brass; one should be US; the other branch of service, not 2 US.

 

I have quite a few pictures of my grandfather in uniform, and in all of them he is wearing 2 US discs, no branch disc was found with his things either he had 3 sets of US discs, but no branch discs. I have always wondered about that.

 

just saw your update holy crap did I just stumble on to something? sorry for the language lol

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While I'm not a uniform guy, I do not feel good about this uniform, and still feel it is a put together. I will repeat that I am NOT that knowledgeable about uniforms.

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This is cool. If the price is right I'd grab it!

 

I'm thinking the same thing. The problem is the one in the thread you showed was named, and had pretty good provenience. I see no name in this one. The insignia do seem to have some age to them, so I'm not sure.

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I have seen this before, and it holds no red fags for me what so over, HOWEVER,,,,what a bet that one shows up real quick on Ebay now. :P

 

Hey hey hey now! Don't say mean things like that! LOL

 

I like to think of myself as a gambling man, and I was kinda worried it would be scooped out from under me. So I went for it. I paid $97.94 shipped, I was looking for Marine Items, but I don't think I'm gonna get anything nicer for the money. Now that I have purchased it, I can show you guys the listing and the rest of the pictures. It was found on Etsy.

 

http://www.etsy.com/listing/109149362/ww2-...al-army-uniform

 

Authentic WW2 wool Army uniform, complete with patches, pins, and insignia. The ribbon bars include a Purple Heart and Good Conduct Medal. The tag is dated 1940 and indicates a men's size 38R. The jacket does show some minor wear and soiling consistent with its age; it could probably benefit from a dry cleaning. Great for a military collector or World War buff! No international shipping please.

 

il_fullxfull.374101491_aazd_zpsee80cfc8.jpgil_fullxfull.374089724_tk8k_zps65898823.jpgil_fullxfull.374089874_i9hc_zps8ccbab20.jpg

 

Once I have it in my possession, I will add better pics.

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dogfacedsoldier

The Americal was authorized to wear the 2nd Marine patch as a battle flash. Americal units were among the first Army units to fight on Gaudacanal. Authorized by the Marines and Army for their wear. You also find this flash on 147th Inf. (Ohio NG and the 169th Inf. of the 43rd Division. I used to collect Americal uniforms heavily and I had examples from the 147th and 169th with the flash on the sleeve. Any units which were apart of CAM were also authorized to wear the flash. Army regs authorized a sleeve to for placement of the battle flash. I've also seen the battle flash worn on shirt sleeves from Americal units. I've heard the 147th was authroized an Iwo Jima arc, but I'm not sure. I saw that in a bunch of paperwork from a 147th vet.

 

Jon

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The Americal was authorized to wear the 2nd Marine patch as a battle flash. Americal units were among the first Army units to fight on Gaudacanal. Authorized by the Marines and Army for their wear. You also find this flash on 147th Inf. (Ohio NG and the 169th Inf. of the 43rd Division. I used to collect Americal uniforms heavily and I had examples from the 147th and 169th with the flash on the sleeve. Any units which were apart of CAM were also authorized to wear the flash. Army regs authorized a sleeve to for placement of the battle flash. I've also seen the battle flash worn on shirt sleeves from Americal units. I've heard the 147th was authroized an Iwo Jima arc, but I'm not sure. I saw that in a bunch of paperwork from a 147th vet.

 

Jon

 

Thanks Jon!

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Great buy! I see no red flags either and have also seen several in this configuration.

 

Justin

 

I've only handled (literally) thousands of WWII uniforms, and for me, the only thing that I have an issue with is the fact that the soldier has added a gold frame to the USN/ USMC PUC ribbon. Other than that, this jacket is EXACTLY what I would want to see. Sure, the double US brass is a bit odd, but this isn't the first time I have seen it on a legitimate uniform. The SSI's and the cuff patch are legit, and the riibons are the same manufacturer and show the same amount of wear and age. I wouldn't hesitate to put this one in my collection if I were interested in Guadalcanal veteran uniforms.

 

Allan

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Since I can't see photobucket images, I had to wait for the auction link. From what I can see, the uniform looks fine.

 

Nice catch!

 

Dave

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I've only handled (literally) thousands of WWII uniforms, and for me, the only thing that I have an issue with is the fact that the soldier has added a gold frame to the USN/ USMC PUC ribbon.

 

Isn't that gold frame in-line with WW2 army regulations for unit awards? Maybe the soldier figured if the army's PUC (aka Distinguished Unit Citation) gets a gold frame, then this one must too. Neat uniform!

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I agree nothing wrong with the uniform and I have seen a dozen or so of these uniforms over the years with the 2nd patch sewn on standing or on its side.

 

The double US discs could be the only ones he had avaiable.Just guessing as a wounded vet he was assigned to The Ports of Embarcation unit and may not had a transpotation disc or unassigned disc so used the US on both sides.If they look like they have left marks in the material I would say they have been there a long time.

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Completely legit. No question about it. A friend of mine was at a guadal reunion many years ago and had a display of insignias setup. Some Army vets said oh we use to wear that patch on our cuff. My friend questioned it and the vet went to his room and brought down his wartime photo album and sure enough they Americal boys were wearing that insignia on their cuffs.

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No wonder I've just sold my only uniform jacket!! :w00t:

 

I cant thank you all enough! This piece is definitely gonna be the highlight of my collection. And Jack's Son don't feel to bad, when I first saw it I had the same reaction you did, but I guess we learn something new everyday.

 

I know some member frown on this, but I have to ask. What do you guys think the value of this is? Don't worry this piece will be in my collection for a long time, I'm just curious.

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The Americal was authorized to wear the 2nd Marine patch as a battle flash. Americal units were among the first Army units to fight on Gaudacanal. Authorized by the Marines and Army for their wear. You also find this flash on 147th Inf. (Ohio NG and the 169th Inf. of the 43rd Division. I used to collect Americal uniforms heavily and I had examples from the 147th and 169th with the flash on the sleeve. Any units which were apart of CAM were also authorized to wear the flash. Army regs authorized a sleeve to for placement of the battle flash. I've also seen the battle flash worn on shirt sleeves from Americal units. I've heard the 147th was authroized an Iwo Jima arc, but I'm not sure. I saw that in a bunch of paperwork from a 147th vet.

 

Jon

 

 

:thumbsup:

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Completely legit. No question about it.

 

Exactly.

 

There are some unusual patch combinations out there, and they aren't always fake; just not familiar to many collectors.

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You got an awesome deal! Here's mine for reference:

 

americal1.jpg

 

Your's even makes more sense than mine. I always wanted to know what this guy did in the ETO.

 

 

Thanks for sharing! That's a really nice piece. I like the placement of the 2nd mar-div patch.

 

I cant stop staring at the pictures of my purchase. lol While looking at it I noticed the seller posted some new items. I was pretty astonished when this came up:

 

http://www.etsy.com/listing/109908265/ww2-...ne-uniform-with

 

il_fullxfull376778700_jvcr_zps690c9fd4.jpg

 

I don't know who he is, but damn he has some nice items. I'm not an Airborne guy, However I figured someone here would be interested in seeing it.

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