94Th Infantry Div Painted Liner, named to Major Francis William Haegler

[USMC-RECON0321]

I had a good feeling about this liner and took a chance. I Just received it in the mail and upon closer inspection was surprised to find a faint name written inside with pencil, "Haegler" with "Major" written underneath" I did just some quick research and quickly ID's him as "Francis William Haegler, 94th Infantry Div HQ's.

 

It appears he was born in Switzerland and came to the US as a young boy, settling in Taos New Mexico. He passed on August 27th 1978. His obituary says During the war, he taught German at Yale and then landed in Europe shortly after D-Day with the 94th Infantry Div. helping German Towns and villages re-establish themselves after their capture.

 

Sadly, while researching him, I also came upon a June 22nd, 2010 militaria Auction listing from "Cowans Auctions" http://www.cowanauctions.com/auctions/past-item.aspx?ItemId=82656 showing a large grouping belonging to Major Francis W. Haegler, with this liner pictured in the grouping along with many documents and photos. I'm very excited to be the new custodian of this great liner, but I can't imagine separating it from his grouping. And the odd part is, even if you did decided to break up the grouping, how was this liner also separated from the history it was attached to as recently as 2010? I only discovered this from my own research?? If it wouldn't have been for the odd spelling of his name and penciled inside the liner, the history that was just with this liner as part of a grouping in the collector world in 2010 would have been lost forever? Sorry, but I'm just amazed by this. You would figure any ID'd / Named items with provenance within the last 10 years or so, you would recognize the importance of keeping that information!! Especially with the quality of the fakes coming out now.

 

Anyway, The basics about the helmet liner itself:

 

Hood Rubber Liner complete with the early flat-buckle leather chinstrap, early size #2 Nape strap. Great painted 94th ID and Majors Insignia. It appears the liner was lacquered over one time.

 

If anyone can provide further info on Major, Haegler or help track down any parts of his grouping, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

I talked to an actual WWII 94th Vet today, Harry Helms, who is the secretary for the 94th Inf. Div Historical Society, who also confirmed Maj. Haegler in the unit History and said it also showed him assigned as, or under the "Military Gevernment" with the 94th? Not sure what that means.

 

Thanks

Troy

 

 

[USMC-RECON0321]

Here is a picture of the liner in the grouping at auction in 2010. Would love to track down and put the grouping (and history) back together again.

 

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Close ups of the name written inside.

 

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Last one.

 

Thanks

Troy

[Bugme]

Awesome research and an absolute shame that someone separated it all. *Shakes head and sighs*

[BigDogMilitaria]

Great pickup Troy. Its sad to see the group broken up and separated. Hopefully someone who has the rest of it will see this thread and you can put it back together.

[USMC-RECON0321]

Awesome research and an absolute shame that someone separated it all. *Shakes head and sighs*

 

Scott,

I agree, But there could be many reasons, maybe needed the money or sold the liner and kept what he really wanted etc... But, I just don't get how the history didn't go with it? It's important to me, especially if I decide to sell, to keep any known history going with the item, even if just verbal (I.E. The Story).

[patches]

Miltiary Government, the history of it, can be seen all in here.

http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/Occ-GY/

 

 

 

As to "assigned" he wasn't assigned away from the 94th Div, he was just given a new task, as a Divisional Staff Officer this makes sense. The 94th Infantry Division like some Combat Divisions (not all) in the ETO caught a break after a certain point in April 1945, it went off offensive or defensive activities, and were relegated to Military Government Duties behind the front in areas under U.S. control. The 94th Div assumed these duties in around mid April, in the Krefeld area then later on a bit in Dusseldorf and it's evirons, and in this funtion when the war ended.

[78CARg]

Wow! That is a beautiful liner. It really is a shame it was seperated from the group. Its sad what people will do for more profit. I'm happy that this peice is now in the hands of someone who cares about it, and the man who wore it. And doesnt see it just as money in their pocket.

 

Thanks for sharing.

[HeadOfSteel]

OH. MY. GOD.

What an absolute killer liner!!!!! I am jealous.

 

HOS

[B24AT6]

Beautiful liner, and I wish you luck on tracking down any information or the rest of the grouping.

[38Driver]

Awesome research and an absolute shame that someone separated it all. *Shakes head and sighs*

What Bugme said. Glad you have it and have revived it's history.

[USMC-RECON0321]

Great pickup Troy. Its sad to see the group broken up and separated. Hopefully someone who has the rest of it will see this thread and you can put it back together.

 

 

 

Thanks, I was kind of hoping the same thing!!

 

Troy

[USMC-RECON0321]

Miltiary Government, the history of it, can be seen all in here.

http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/Occ-GY/

 

 

 

As to "assigned" he wasn't assigned away from the 94th Div, he was just given a new task, as a Divisional Staff Officer this makes sense. The 94th Infantry Division like some Combat Divisions (not all) in the ETO caught a break after a certain point in April 1945, it went off offensive or defensive activities, and were relegated to Military Government Duties behind the front in areas under U.S. control. The 94th Div assumed these duties in around mid April, in the Krefeld area then later on a bit in Dusseldorf and it's evirons, and in this funtion when the war ended.

 

Great info and link! Thanks for sharing.

Troy

[USMC-RECON0321]

Wow! That is a beautiful liner. It really is a shame it was seperated from the group. Its sad what people will do for more profit. I'm happy that this peice is now in the hands of someone who cares about it, and the man who wore it. And doesnt see it just as money in their pocket.

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

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No telling why it got separated from the rest of the grouping??

 

I'm just glad I was able to recover a picture of the grouping all together and still on line. I wasn't able to get much details from the grouping description, but I think the picture can be deciphered somewhat to give us an idea or educated guesses of his history. One thing I thought was interesting in the description, is it mentioned he had a German Pay roll roster.

 

Here is the auction description:

 

 

Consisting of helmet liner from the 94th division with insignia, 94th regimental history book, scrapbook with photographs of the 94th infantry. PLUS, framed medal group, cloth insignia, and German payroll roster.

 

[USMC-RECON0321]

OH. MY. GOD.

What an absolute killer liner!!!!! I am jealous.

 

HOS

 

 

Beautiful liner, and I wish you luck on tracking down any information or the rest of the grouping.

 

 

What Bugme said. Glad you have it and have revived it's history.

 

 

 

Thanks for the comments guys!!

[USMC-RECON0321]

Thought I would bump this back up in remembrance of Major Haegler, who passed 35 years ago today!

[militaryoutfitter]

I am the owner of the rest of the material.  I separated the liner because it was the only piece that was NOT basically paper and scrapbook material, and was the only uniform material in the lot.  If the rest of his outfit had been there I would have kept the liner, but it had been sold elsewhere I was told.  Liner and a paper lot...not much in common and a bit of a storage problem, as well.  My main interest was in his diary and awards, scrapbook etc.  And the lot cost a lot at the time, so the helmet liner (a low pressure type as I recall) was the obvious choice. 

[militaryoutfitter]

Haegler was a civil affairs officer, and was a liaison between the enemy and the French civilian population in certain areas in efforts to prevent starvation, for which he got the bronze star.  He spent most of his time in the "unassigned" branch of the army, attached to the 94th but also the 16th armored, and one other unit.  He had been in the Swiss artillery corps before coming to the US.  He spoke German, French, English and more, and was quite a bit older than most officers.  He was recruited because of his language skills and previous service.  He met German forces in a neutral area to work out the food exchange and evacuation of civilians, and did things like this several times.  As for shaking your head at things not staying with a group, that started before me when all his uniforms and trunk were sold off.  At that point, It was keeping 'like' together.  I probably would keep it now, but at the time, it seemed like it ought to go to a helmet collector (who are not paper buyers) instead of staying with a lot that had nothing to do with assorted equipment. 

[militaryoutfitter]

Here he is, on the right of the image, in dark gabardine officer's shirt.  He was born in 1898 so he is no spring chicken.  

[shifty5580]

Hello Militaryoutfitter, 

I'm the owner of the liner,thanks a lot for your help! Can you maybe post more pictures about him, maybe when he wore his liner, if you have?Or interesting paper?

Thanks a lot

Bertrand