2ndInf.Div. Posted January 30, 2018 Share #1 Posted January 30, 2018 I have posted this uniform before, but was able to ID it and thought I would share this veterans story. About 4-5 years ago, I acquired a ribbon and insignia group that belonged to an unknown officer of the 145th Infantry Regiment; it had been stripped from his mothed officers jacket. I am very happy to say that through tedious research, I was able to identify it as belonging to Captain Joseph Hillman, who served with L. Company. My first step to researching this uniform was to pull the 145ths officer roster from the National Archives. From there, I went through every name of the roster while also looking through the 37th IDs General Order book; Hillman was the only 145th officer that had a SS and PH without clusters. I was then able to have his citations pulled from the archives, and he was listed as being wounded on March 19, 1944 during the battle of Hill 700 at Bougainville. After that, I went through the morning reports and was able to find his company. Subsequently, I also found an account from the Mt. Pacawagan campaign in April and May of 1945 that also mentioned him. Going into this, I knew that this officer had to have been with the 3rd Battalion for the simple fact that the Asiatic-Pacific ribbon has an arrowhead for the Lingayen Gulf Landing on January 9, 1945. The 145ths 1st and 2nd Battalions were held in reserve while the 3rd Battalion landed in support of the 544th Boat and Shore Regiment. About a year or two ago, prior to finding out who the group belonged to, I purchased a nice original 37th officers coat with no ID or ribbons, and matched the two together. I think they go together quite well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2ndInf.Div. Posted January 30, 2018 Author Share #2 Posted January 30, 2018 Shown here is the morning report mentioning Hillman being wounded, as well as a very detailed report of L. Companys actions that day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2ndInf.Div. Posted January 30, 2018 Author Share #3 Posted January 30, 2018 Finally, here is Hillmans SS citation. No date is given, but Im almost positive this action would have been at Mt. Pacawagan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captainofthe7th Posted January 30, 2018 Share #4 Posted January 30, 2018 Nice, Matt! I was just thinking about this one the other day, wondering how you were doing with the project. I'm glad you found a match...nice job. Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbinephalen Posted January 30, 2018 Share #5 Posted January 30, 2018 Fantastic research! That uniform is a gem! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2ndInf.Div. Posted January 30, 2018 Author Share #6 Posted January 30, 2018 Thanks guys! Never thought I would find out who this one belonged to but I am happy I did! Ive got another gem thatll be posted soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAW Posted January 30, 2018 Share #7 Posted January 30, 2018 So...to clarify...are you saying that the uniform coat was not his, but you put his ribbons and insignia on it....or did both the coat and insignia originally belong to him? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2ndInf.Div. Posted January 30, 2018 Author Share #8 Posted January 30, 2018 Yes, the jacket was not his, but the ribbons, DIs, and other metal insignia is. The overseas bars and 37th patch are original to the jacket, but the jacket itself has no provenance. Hillman also had 4 overseas bars, so I thought they made a perfect match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfcmac Posted January 31, 2018 Share #9 Posted January 31, 2018 Great research and uniform. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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