Preservation of 45 clip pouches

[kratz]

Thanks for the welcome. I am posting now that I understand how to do it.

The belt itself is fine. It's the pouches for the clips that are deteriorating. I just want to stop them from degrading any more. The clips are preserved.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

This was my dad's belt from his time on an LST in the Pacific.He was issued a 45, which was actually from 2 different manufacturers, the slide was a Remington, and the receiver was Smith & Weston. I don't know much about his time in the navy except for his journal, which is hard to read as most of it is handwritten.

Actually, I do have a couple questions. I don't think he was in any action on the ship. So, I would like to know:

1. When would he have been required to wear it on the ship?

2. I know he was in Hiroshima around 3 months after the war was over. Would he have been required to wear it then?

3. What was the standard practice for sidearms on board ship or other times?

4. Can someone interpret the printing on the pouches? What does this tell you about the pouches?

My dad, like many veterans, never talked about his time in the war. He of life onboard the LST, The journal is mostly mundane, boring, daily shipboard activities. I know he had a collection of records that were played on board for the crew as I had them and they are now on my computer.

One short story I only learned a short time before he died in 06'. While walking in Hiroshima he found 2 little china dishes about 3 inches long. He kept them and used to keep M&Ms in them in his room on ship. One was destroyed when it fell off the desk in a storm, but the other one has survived. My brother has that. I'm sure he never received any information about radiation poisoning, and though the dish has never been tested for radioactivity, I wouldn't be surprised if it was. My siblings and I used to joke that we now knew why we are the way we are.

Also, he was transferred to another LST to return to Hawaii or SF. I'm not sure which. He was in command of the ship. He had been an Ensign jg. I don't remember if he was temporarily promoted or what the practice was. He did remark about the ship being in terrible shape, with engine problems and limping back across the Pacific.

I also know he took midshipmen's school at Great Lakes Naval Training Academy, which was at Notre Dame? in 43 to 44.

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[Bodes]

The second one pictured is a Mills pouch....That's what worded in the cartridge outline....Also has patent date on it....Third one is a WW1 dated pouch....Those two were used in WW1 and later....

 

Might want to store pouches without the magazines in them...Could lengthen their time....Bodes

[stealthytyler]

I agree. Get those rusty mags out of the pouches to prevent further rusting of the material.

 

Im sending you a PM to help you get started on researching your dad.

[kratz]

The clips have machine oil on them and they are wrapped in parchment paper, per the armorer at a gun shop in town. They had been stored in the pouchs before I knew any better.

[kratz]

Here is a photo of the 988 that he served on after the end of the war.

[Blacksmith]

I assume you mean the frame was made by Smith & Wesson. S&W did not make USGI 1911 frames at any point. Your options in an A1 (WWII) configuration would be: Remington Rand, Colt, Ithaca, US&S, and Singer; and note, Im only including Singer as a formality, as the likelihood of you having a mixed parts example with a Singer frame is so remote that its approaching impossible.

 

And please know, Remington Rand is wholly separate from the Remington firearms company. The wartime 1911A1 maker was Remington Rand, who was a small machine / typewriter company out of Syracuse, NY.

 

was issued a 45, which was actually from 2 different manufacturers, the slide was a Remington, and the receiver was Smith & Weston.

[kratz]

Yeah, I screwed up. Sorry. It is a Colt receiver and Remington Rand slider. The armorer said the receiver serial # placed it in1912 for year of manufacture. The slider is 1943. The grip isn't original as it's clear plastic with a naked lady underneath.