WW2 shortened shovel identified to a 505th paratrooper

[Murphy92]

Hi

I wanted you to enjoy a discovery made last June in Normandy :

Just the (shortened) shovel of Thomas B. BYRD assigned as PFC to the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment Co.D
He belonged to a machine gun section and was killed June 15, 1944 during a strong German attack near St Sauveur le Vicomte.
His body was repatriated to the United States and is now buried in Carlton cemetery (Hamilton county - Texas)
Here are some pictures :

 

 

It is not my collection of theme (which concern more the 2nd and 4th Infantry Division and the 508th PIR), but the opportunity was too good when I was offered this item.

Regards
Murph'

 

[268th C.A.]

Great piece of history discovered. Good researching Murph' Really nice!

[Philipp Baughman]

I'm sorry to say but I have my doubts about the cover.

 

It looks a lot like those late 40s and early 50s USMC shovel cover.

No makers stamp on the back and the US on front looks a lot like those on USMC covers, where some surplus dealer had a stamping applied to.

Same with the wire hanger: it seems to be longer than the standard Army hanger and if you bent it a little into its original form, I'm sure it will look like the late type USMC hanger.

[Murphy92]

Thanks for your intervention Philipp... I'm afraid your doubts are unfounded: the hook brass was misrepresented, but is not longer than normal. For the stamp, he was examined from every angle and it seems whether it's an anomaly related to the mode of production.
In all cases, given the circumstances and the date of discovery of this itemt, it is highly unlikely whether it's a bad copy doubled a scam

Regards

[Philipp Baughman]

I really hope it proofs I'm wrong but compared to my USMC cover there are a lot of similarities.

 

First the type of US stamp on the front. Mine is not that fresh as yours but it has the same shade from the stamp around it.

 

Second the wire hanger looks a lot like each other. Typically USMC wire hanger were somewhat L-shaped at the end with an sharp angle while the army ones are more smooth/round shape at the last bend before the end.

 

 

And third the color is very similar.

 

As far as I know those USMC covers hit the surplus market in the 50s or 60s and where promptly marked US by the seller and were since then sold as US Army cover. I saw only very few examples without US stamp.

 

It's had to for me to describe what I exactly mean. I'm missing a lot of words in my English vocabulary...

[robinb]

Phillip is correct. That is a 1950's USMC cover with phony airborne markings added.

[USMCman01]

The hook is the late war usmc brass version, just re-bent to make it appear to be an army hook.

 

Not too many legit items come out of Normandy.

[hbtcoveralls]

The other thing that stands out is the way the cover is marked. In WWII field gear is most often marked with a laundry number and full stencils with name and ASN are very uncommon. I hadn't originally picked up on the cover being wrong, but the stenciling was a huge red flag for me

Tom Bowers

[David D]

Hate to say it but all of those things stuck out to me before I even read the other comments. Looks like it's to good to be true...

[Murphy92]

Thank you all for your opinions I think well-argued
I do not hide that I am very disappointed and surprised to have been swindled in this way
We believe that the person who sold me this article in June has been convincing... I wasn't yet born the last rain as we say in France: like what you can get at any stage of the collection !

I will inform you of the suite including on the recovery of the object by its former owner...

[Ronnie]

Sorry for this to happen to you Murphy92 but I think it has happened to most of us.

Ronnie

[collector]

Sorry for this to happen to you Murphy92 but I think it has happened to most of us.

Ronnie

 

Yup!

[rob590ert]

Sorry about the outcome on this one. What's worse than the fact that somebody sold you a fake piece, is the fact that somebody made money off of the deceased troopers name.

Robert

[Andrew]

It is surprising that someone went to the trouble to create this fabrication, but used what is obviously not an army-issue shovel cover. Had he/she used the correct type of cover, and a more correct-looking laundry number and name, it would have been much harder to detect or prove the fake. What is really twisted is that someone has sold his/her integrity so cheaply, but still, at the expense of a soldier who was killed in action.