USMC Uniform Help

[Raidercollector]

I Have this Marine greens uniform with the headquarters patch on it with 3 strips,being a Sgt. Named inside in both sleeves to N,E,Aldrich. Dated 42-43. And over seas strip on both sleeves. When I went on Ancestry,And went through all the muster roles for Marines,I only came up with one name,That was Norman E Aldrich 5th marine division 27th marines, KIA on Iwo Jima. And he is in the 5th marine unit history as KIA.That is the only N,E,Aldrich I could find. So could this jacket have been his and was given to someone else,But never put a name in it. The uniform also has the discharge patch on it to. So this uniform is hard to figure out . Any help would be most appreciated.

 

Nick

 

[patrick_usmc]

Sounds to me like it was reissued. Here's a somewhat informative (somewhat in that it is sort of relevent to what you are asking) thread that I hope can help clear up some confusion for you. http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/224169-usmc-reissued-uniforms-question/?hl=%2Breissued+%2Busmc

 

Hope I could help!

 

-Patrick

[Raidercollector]

Thanks Patrick,But I also noticed that there are no Ghost marking showing that there was another patch on. Could this marine been in the same outfit ? Maybe I will have to get his records to clarify this one.I do know the Head Quarters marines where on Iwo to. Could he have been attached to the 5th Division.? Unless there is another marine I did not find,And he is out there. Just not on the rosters.Could this be? I and confused.

Any one else can shed some light on this to. Thanks Nick

[USdog]

I did not see any other matches for a marine other than the Iwo KIA. As for the ghost SSI, I have a Tarawa KIA uniform and there is no ghost patch either. (He was in the 2nd MD).

[uplandmod]

Most KIA jackets were recycled out to another marine, it appears that the second marine never put his name in it. I have a few jackets where the second Marine ID was never put in the jacket and its quite common.

 

Also the stripes on the sleeves are are not overseas stripes they are service stripes, each stripe meaning four years of service in WWII.

 

Usually but not always it also means the Marine earned a Good Conduct Media as well.

 

Good Luck!

 

Leonardo

[Raidercollector]

Thanks US Dog and Leonardo. That helps a lot to clarify this Marine. I will go ahead and get his records for Pvt Aldrich. Is it best to kept the other Marines strips on and time in strips. Or should I bring it back to the first marine that was KIA. ?? As there is no other ghost markings as I said earlier in this post. .

 

Nick

[uplandmod]

I always wait until I get the records before I start removing and adding items just in case the records reveal something that I didn't know.

 

When I get jackets like this I do remove the patches or items that don't belong to the name in the jacket. Who knows when those second patches were put on and there is no record who the jacket belong to afterwards. This is also how you build up a collection of patches for other restorations.

 

I believe you should honor the deceased in this case, as this might be the only record left of his time on earth.

 

Good luck!

LF

[Raidercollector]

Thanks Leonardo

You are a lot of help. I will get his records and honor the name in the uniform since I do not know the second owner like you said. You are very helpful to me researching the original owner an kept his memory alive.

 

Nick

[uplandmod]

No Problem…!

 

Incredible and sober find!

 

Looking forward to the completed coat!

 

LF