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Post your Military Buckles - with or without the belt


hardheaded
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Transitioning from Jack's AEF buckle, I'll add from oldest to newest. WW1 and WW2 issue buckles:

 

 

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50s standard brass and Field Artillery buckles:

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Era unknown, Manchu (9th Infantry Regiment) buckles. In the late 90s, Soldiers who were part of the 9th IN or supported them wore these buckles to show they'd completed the "Manchu Mile," a 25 mile forced march. Rumor was that these were officially authorized by Department of the Army to be worn with uniform in other assignments (I never researched to confirm/deny that).

 

I bought these as collection items, not as a member of the Manchus.

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VMI First Class Private belt, and 2-72 AR belt. Both of these were mine, as a cadet at VMI and later as Battalion Fire Support Officer in 2-72 AR (1st Brigade, 2ID).

 

The VMI belt was uniform issue - it shows that it hasn't been shined in over 20 years. The "Dragon Force" buckle was unofficial, worn with BDUs in Korea in the late 1990s.

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Cobra 6 Actual

A lot of nice buckles on here!

 

Kinda reminding me of Army / Navy games though LOL! As soon as I find some of my others I'll be adding them.

 

HH

Did someone say "Army / Navy games" ... ?

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I'm amazed at the wide variety of these buckles. Many of these buckles, especially the Navy ones, exhibit amazing craftsmanship!

 

Thanks for sharing,

Steve

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Cobra 6 Actual

Now there's something seldom seen

Well, as you know, there are several versions of the GAR buckle. The commonest is very similar to the Sons of Union Veterans buckle that I have in Post #103. Here's another version of the GAR buckle:

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Cobra 6 Actual

Now there's something seldom seen

Oops, perhaps you were referring to the U.S. Lighthouse Service items. Sorry, I'm a little dense sometimes. As you know the Lighthouse Service was absorbed into the Coast Guard in 1939.

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Cobra 6 Actual

Thanks, GPW. Yep, the humble roller buckle gets 'personalized' pretty regularly. Here's one that I had made in a ville in Vietnam (the unit was the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Infantry of the 1st Infantry Division (1/2):

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A third buckle is from a Marine who served in China immediately post-war. He probably took part in the effort to accept the surrender of Japanese forces that still retained their full fighting strength. The neat thing about this buckle is I know who it originally belonged to: Thomas L. Holder. When I bought it off the internet about 13 years ago, it was sold as an unidentified piece. When I got it, I looked on the back of the buckle and found this inscribed on back:

PL. SGT THOMAS L. HOLDER

288506

U.S.M.C. 1940-1947

 

Lesson learned: ALWAYS look on the back, on the rim, inside, in every pocket, the lining :).

 

 

You might find this interesting;

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/14159-usmc-china-photos-and-paperwork/?hl=ditta

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