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Buckeye: My WWII 37th ID Uniform Collection


2ndInf.Div.
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I've been meaning to share my WWII 37th ID uniform collection for awhile now, so I figured I'd finally do it :) I've picked all of these up in the past 3 years, which is how long I've been collecting 37th ID for.

 

First up is my first uniform that I picked up, which was at the SOS in 2014. I spotted this one just as I was about to leave, and I'm beyond happy that I did. This belonged to Harlow H. Smith of Palatine, IL who served as a truck driver with H. Company, 129th Infantry Regiment. I was able to find a picture of him in the 1941-42 33rd Division year book.

 

 

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Up next is the uniform that is currently on my mannequin, displayed with the rest of the 37th ID stuff. I picked this up from a fellow forum member. A very nice example of an Australian-made Ike jacket ID'd to the 148th Infantry Regiment (sadly no name). Very hard to find a 37th uniform with DI's of any sort.

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Cpl. Punishment

Very cool! I have a WWI 37th grouping from a man in the 134th field artillery battery F. It consists of his tunic and overcoat. Both articles of clothing have a rare 37th variant patch with an embroidered "37" in the middle of the patch. Ive been looking to trade it for a nice WWII grouping as it isnt really my thing

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Next is a put-together officers jacket that displays beautifully. I usually shy away from put-together uniforms but this one was an exception. A few years back, I picked up a 145th officers award group (insignia, ribbons) that was taken off a destroyed khaki officers summer coat. Fast forward to last year. Fellow forum member 37thguy was selling this 37th officers jacket with no ribbons and basic artillery officers insignia. Like the grouping, the jacket also has 4 overseas bars. Rather than displaying the ribbon group in a riker, I decided to match the two together.

 

Although the ribbon group has no name, the Asiatic-Pacific ribbon has an arrowhead device, narrowing it down to one unit: the 3rd Battalion, 145th Infantry. The 3rd Battalion landed at Lingayen Gulf on January 9, 1945 as part of the initial wave, while the 1st and 2nd Battalions were held in Division reserve. As such, only the 3rd Battalion received the arrowhead device. Through researching at the National Archives, I'm going to attempt to get an ID on who it belonged to.

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This was another uniform I picked up from 37thguy awhile back. This one belonged to John Shane of Steubenville, OH. Originally drafted into the Air Corps, he likely joined the 37th as a replacement for the Luzon campaign in 1944. While I haven't been able to ID his unit, it is interesting to note that when the 37th was called back into federal service in 1940, a large portion of E. Company, 145th Infantry was comprised from men in that region of Ohio. Of course, for the period that Shane joined the 37th, he could have been assigned to any unit in the 37th.

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This one was my biggest find at the SOS last year. This is a really neat group, but sadly has no name. The jacket is a cut-down service coat, perhaps done in the Philippines as much of the waist area was clearly sewn by hand, as are the patches. As can be seen by the overseas bar, this GI would have joined the 37th anywhere from February-June of 1945. To add to the sweetness of this already cool jacket, it also came with a patched wool shirt, 2 pairs of M37 wool trousers, and a nearly mint pair of 1942 dated Australian-made trousers.

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To round out the service uniforms is this nice example of a Staff Sergeant's uniform featuring a pre-war wool border patch. It has the name Lawrence Smith underneath one of the lower pocket flaps. Although the 37th was only authorized to wear 2 campaign stars on the Asiatic-Pacific ribbon, clearly this GI wanted to show that he took part in battles at all 3 islands the 37th fought at. The 3 campaign stars and arrowhead also narrows down this uniform to either the 148th Infantry Regiment, or the 3rd Battalion, 145th Infantry Regiment, as the 129th Infantry Regiment was not at the battle of New Georgia in July/August of 1943.

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The last 37th uniform in my collection is this khaki shirt belonging to an unknown Master Sergeant. This was also a pickup at the SOS in 2014. Not the most exciting uniform, but I'm happy to have it :)

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This one isn't mine, but belonged to a veteran of D. Company, 145th Infantry Regiment that I had the pleasure of interviewing. He told me that he wore the assault patches as they were meant to be part of the initial wave that hit Japan if the invasion had happened. Also interesting to see the backing on the CIB.

 

 

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Patches, thanks for the heads up. That's one detail I failed to recognize. I'll be sure to correct that on the officer's uniform.

Yeah they and the later Korean Presidential Unit Citation which was also worn on that pocket flap begin to be worn with the other citations on the right above the pocket in the early 60s.

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  • 2 years later...

Beautiful uniforms. Been looking for buckeye uniforms as they’ve seem to eluded me. My grandpa who was a TD gunner in the Philippines told me he was near the 37th. Great finds overall!!

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