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Captain Francis R. Sears WW2 Jacket With An Interesting Twist


manayunkman
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manayunkman

This jacket is named twice to Francis P. Sears, in the collar and inside pocket.

 

It appears to be that Captain Sears was in the Army Air Force but on closer inspection that might not be the case.

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manayunkman

I was pleased to find that the jacket was identified but was puzzled by the ribbon bar having a Bronze Star so I checked the collar insignia and found that the clutches are post war.

 

I checked the sleeve patch and found that it’s sewn over another patch.

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T Ambrosini

Newspapers.com has an obit from 8 Feb 2004, Francis P Sears Jr.  According to the obit, he was an Army captain in France, serving with the 94th Division.  Same guy???  If so, he was a stockbroker and had a Preakness winner, "Deputed Testimony" in 1983.

 

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manayunkman

After carefully fiddling around with the patch I got a glimpses of the 94th Infantry Division underneath.

 

So how does this fit all together?

 

 

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huntssurplus

Huh weird. Why would someone sew an army air corps patch over the original patch?


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manayunkman

Well it looks like the Captain was in the 94th so the AAF collar insignia was also added and that would explain the 1960s era clutches.

 

If anyone has a 94th roster I would appreciate knowing if Sears was an infantryman.

 

There is a ghost of something being pinned above the ribbon bar.

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manayunkman
24 minutes ago, huntssurplus said:

Huh weird. Why would someone sew an army air corps patch over the original patch?
 


That’s the mystery.

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huntssurplus

I'm guessing it would be a CIB. Confirmation would be good like you said, but can't really think of anything else that could go there.


Do you think you are going to remove the AAF patch? This is really stumping me, can't think of why someone would do this lol. It looks like it should be easily removable at least if you decide to do that.

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T Ambrosini
9 hours ago, manayunkman said:

Thats him!

 

Where is he from?

He was from the Boston area...  Seems to have come from a well-to-do family there.  I'll try to post his obituary if I can figure out how to convert the format to something viewable on this board

 

Tom

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manayunkman

Thank you so much for the obituary.

 

A true New England preppy even his uniform is from Brooks Brothers.

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4 battle stars on ETO would match 94th ID campaigns ....he ordered the jacket prior to going overseas on 6 August 1944 per 94th ID in wiki...

 

Strange that someone tacked a USAAF patch over the 94th ID patch but we’ve all seen stranger things....maybe theater, etc.

 

You could request his records...from US Military center and/or write Massachusetts State Archives records.  You could also find his son’s contact info....and request assistance.  You might find out a lot about the jacket and the soldier.

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You could ask if someone has a copy of the paperback book “Index to General Orders for the 94th ID” by Brandon T. Wiegand.  He published/created many booklets for the various US Army units listing the soldiers rec’ing medals, etc. in 2005

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manayunkman

This jacket came from an estate sale of a Vietnam era aviator.

 

At first I thought that it was his dads but now I think that the Vietnam vet got the jacket somehow and dressed it up to look like a WW2 aviator. 
 

That would explain the wrong clutches and unusual ribbon bar.


Not sure yet how much research I’m going to put into it but it’s cool to have found it.

 

Thank you for all the comments and help.

 

 

 

 

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huntssurplus
This jacket came from an estate sale of a Vietnam era aviator.
 
At first I thought that it was his dads but now I think that the Vietnam vet got the jacket somehow and dressed it up to look like a WW2 aviator. 
 
That would explain the wrong clutches and unusual ribbon bar.

Not sure yet how much research I’m going to put into it but it’s cool to have found it.
 
Thank you for all the comments and help.
 
 
 
 

Interesting theory, maybe it was for Halloween or a retro party or something. There are a lot of retro 1940s balls that are popular where people go in uniform. Perhaps he decided to go as a member of the AAF as a testament to his own service?

Hunt


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huntssurplus
1 hour ago, Edelweisse said:

WOW artillery private...MA NG but yet he had 4 years of college...OCS then commissioned.

 

Probably went in to make a few extra bucks. Depression era NG was one of the only sources of constant flow of income. Albeit, as a Harvard Grad I'm sure he was well off enough to not have to worry about money, but a lot of young men went into the NG just to have some fun on the weekends every once in a while. 


NG was different then, you didn't have to go to regular army BCT and then AIT like today. Most of your training was done by your NG unit, and then when you did have federal training, you still stayed and did it all with your unit. promotions weren't very common for enlisted men, but it was a good way to have something fun to do and make a few bucks doing it. 

 

i'm sure when war broke out, he realized he no longer wanted to be an enlisted men and thus that's why he went to OCS and commissioned. That or they encouraged him because of his Harvard background. Needless to say he had a much better time as an Officer then he would as a private.


Hunt

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manayunkman

Thanks for the NARA.

 

I knew he was in the service before the war and wondered if he was NG.

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  • 9 months later...
postmanusnac

This might come as no surprise, since he was in the artillery with the NG, but Sears was supposed to have been a part of 94th Div Artillery.  I searched all through all the FA Bn rosters and he is not in them.  So, he may have been a part of BG Fortier staff at HQ.

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I can't tell you anything about your guy Sears but, I do have an officers jacket with a patch sewn over another patch. It has the US Army Forces Western Pacific patch sewn over the Army Services Forces patch on the left shoulder. Right shoulder has the 10th Army patch. He was an MP officer in both Europe and the Pacific. So maybe not a common practice, sometimes one patch was sewn over the other.

 

Dan

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I had a similar sort of patch-on-patch situation with a uniform I posted on here back in 2007. It was a nice surprise!

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