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1950 Ike 29th Infantry Regt.


P-59A
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This was a swap meet find. It may of had a stripe on it at one time.  It never had another patch on the right shoulder. I also noticed the collar disks are crossed. Does anyone have any opinion on this. Korean War or post?

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So I know everything on the jacket lines up. The 29th Inf. Reg. was on Okinawa in 1950 and shipped to Korea in 1950. The patch is a US Army Ryukyus Command  patch from Okinawa in bullion. The DUI's are correct. What's missing is rank, overseas bars and ribbons. I read the losses in Korea were bad and what survived was pulled out or rolled into other units by the end of 1950. This jacket shows no indication of its owner being rolled into another outfit and maybe he has no over seas bars because  he didn't last long in Korea. It looks like it was stuffed into a duffle bag. I wish it had a name on it.

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That's one unique IKE Jacket, worn in 1951 I'm thinking after being sent over in July 1950, as the date in the jacket is 1 Nov 1950 and was probably worn by a new man, a private, (thus the lake of any ribbons etc et)c when the unit was reformed in Okinawa after the original unit was destroyed and it's survivors reassigned to the 25th Infantry Division with a few going to the equally shattered 24th Infantry Division. Jacket will date up to October 1951 after that the Collar discs as worn on the Lower Lapels are done away with., the four discs look Japanese made.

 

The 29th Infantry is officially mentioned everywhere and forever as a Regimental Combat Team, but from what I've been stsrting to see over the years is at that time it dosen't seem to have been a Regimental Combat Team, Regimental Combat Teams have a Field Artillery Battalion and an Engineer Company assigned to it, we've never seen mention of a FA Bn or an Eng Co assigned to it, whether in Okinawa or in Korea, just the infantry regiment itself, maybe it became an RCT after it was re raised???

 

The 29th Inf like the rest of the infantry regiments in the summer of 1950 they only had two of their battalion active, in the case of the 29th Infantry, it's 1st and 3rd Battalions and they were sent to Okinawa as a security force to guard the big air bases of the Strategic Air Command. When it was re raised it now has it's full three battalions back on The Rock

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That sounds about right. That would explain everything. I do have a ghost of a PFC, but nothing that would show in photo's.  Good job, Thank you!

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18 minutes ago, P-59A said:

That sounds about right. That would explain everything. I do have a ghost of a PFC, but nothing that would show in photo's.  Good job, Thank you!

I do have one thread hanging. Why would that Ike exist as it did in 1951? The tag in the pocket is clean, it has no staples from being cleaned. The Ike was only worn one year then it looks like it was put away.

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3 hours ago, P-59A said:

That sounds about right. That would explain everything. I do have a ghost of a PFC, but nothing that would show in photo's.  Good job, Thank you!

Is the ghosting for the small 1948 ranks or the large WWII ranks.

 

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I was thinking...That Ike is rather small, maybe by 1951 he put on some weight watching that air base. He may have retired that Ike and got another.

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1 hour ago, patches said:

You can also check the inside to see as well.

The Ryukyus  patch was hand sewn so as to not go into the liner. I assume he did the same with the PFC stripes as there are no indications of it being sewn into the liner. I pulled the collar disk's and they are all made by Meyer, Two of the clutch backs have some moth nips around them. That indicates the collar disks have been there some time.  I found no indications of a ribbon bar being punched through the liner or clutch backs leaving impressions above the pocket. The DUI's were made by Meyer. On the inside left pocket flap I did find two holes towards the top of the pocket flap placed left of center that are spaced for a two wide ribbon bar and centered on the flap looks like two holes spaced for a shooting qualification.

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From the the shoulder seam to what looks like the top of the PFC is 6 inch's. I do not know what regulations say, but that shoulder patch is one and a half fingers width from the seam.

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9 hours ago, FriarChuck said:

I have my grandfather’s Air Force Ike from the same time period in Korea. When I got it from him it had neither his correct stripes (still had his E-2 single stripe but he was discharged as an E-4) or his ribbons. From what I can tell he wore it stateside before deploying and never wore it again, even during his R&R in Japan Perhaps your soldier was similar. 

 

Sincerely,

 

Friar

Friar, Its the time frame as indicated by what's on the jacket. Lets say his enlistment is 4 years and he enlisted in 1950. Why does his jacket stop at 1951 regulations? Not to mention he spends his whole time on Okinawa? I'm sure the jacket is as it always was, I just don't understand why. On a side note I looked hard for indications of rank below the shoulder patch and found nothing.

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I have a Korean war era Ike so I know what your asking about on the patch. I measured this and it was 6" from seam to top of rank.

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10 hours ago, P-59A said:

The Ryukyus  patch was hand sewn so as to not go into the liner. I assume he did the same with the PFC stripes as there are no indications of it being sewn into the liner. I pulled the collar disk's and they are all made by Meyer, Two of the clutch backs have some moth nips around them. That indicates the collar disks have been there some time.  I found no indications of a ribbon bar being punched through the liner or clutch backs leaving impressions above the pocket. The DUI's were made by Meyer. On the inside left pocket flap I did find two holes towards the top of the pocket flap placed left of center that are spaced for a two wide ribbon bar and centered on the flap looks like two holes spaced for a shooting qualification.

The Discs are NS Meyer! Cool, thought they were Japanese made.

 

No ribbons then eh!, welp my WAG is he was a two year Draftee, approximately mid-ish late 49 -mid -ish ate 51 served somewhere first stateside and was then shipped off to Okinawa to the re raised 29th Inf, then his obligation came to an end got discharged while sill a PFC. It's one of those curious items, no ribbons, he should have at least a Good Conduct Medal, unless it was a Pin Back and it was pushed through the top fabric, like in the way the shoulder patch and the ranks were sewn on, which brings up those, like why weren't all those choice insignia stripped? those are some rare insignias, the collar discs with 29 on them, a Theater Mae Ryukus Command in Bullion, even the 29th Inf DIs are there, and those are not easily found anymore, WWII-Late 40s made, and as matching pairs yet what was stripped? What may or may not be small 1948 Reg or the Large PFC chevrons!

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1 hour ago, patches said:

 

 

1 hour ago, patches said:

The Discs are NS Meyer! Cool, thought they were Japanese made.

 

No ribbons then eh!, welp my WAG is he was a two year Draftee, approximately mid-ish late 49 -mid -ish ate 51 served somewhere first stateside and was then shipped off to Okinawa to the re raised 29th Inf, then his obligation came to an end got discharged while sill a PFC. It's one of those curious items, no ribbons, he should have at least a Good Conduct Medal, unless it was a Pin Back and it was pushed through the top fabric, like in the way the shoulder patch and the ranks were sewn on, which brings up those, like why weren't all those choice insignia stripped? those are some rare insignias, the collar discs with 29 on them, a Theater Mae Ryukus Command in Bullion, even the 29th Inf DIs are there, and those are not easily found anymore, WWII-Late 40s made, and as matching pairs yet what was stripped? What may or may not be small 1948 Reg or the Large PFC chevrons!

OK, So a short term enlistment fits the bill. I was also thinking maybe early discharge due to injury or court marshal, that could explain some of this too. So the kick is I got this for $15.00 USD. No one wanted it for some reason. 

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huntssurplus
21 minutes ago, P-59A said:

 

OK, So a short term enlistment fits the bill. I was also thinking maybe early discharge due to injury or court marshal, that could explain some of this too. So the kick is I got this for $15.00 USD. No one wanted it for some reason. 

 

Court Marshal could explain the missing Good Conduct Ribbon on the jacket, I find draftee being more likely. Didn't the Good Conduct Medal require 3 years of service minimum after WW2? If he only served 2 years maybe he wasn't eligible?

Hunt

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3 hours ago, huntssurplus said:

 

Court Marshal could explain the missing Good Conduct Ribbon on the jacket, I find draftee being more likely. Didn't the Good Conduct Medal require 3 years of service minimum after WW2? If he only served 2 years maybe he wasn't eligible?

Hunt

Draftees in the post WWII period received the Good Conduct Medal upon completion of their miltary service, in peace and war.

 

Case in point Elvis.

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My Father in law wore that patch during the Korean War while on Okinawa. He was an AA gunner, both 40mm Bofors and the M-16 half trac with the quad .50 cal mounted in it. He was never in combat. 

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huntssurplus
Draftees in the post WWII period received the Good Conduct Medal upon completion of their miltary service, in peace and war.
 
Case in point Elvis.
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Okay I see didn’t know that. Maybe he just never put it on then? If he was a draftee he was probably more interested in finishing his service then making sure his uniform had everything he was entitled too.

Hunt


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4 hours ago, huntssurplus said:


Okay I see didn’t know that. Maybe he just never put it on then? If he was a draftee he was probably more interested in finishing his service then making sure his uniform had everything he was entitled too.

Hunt


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Here's the Criteria explaining it, as you see the 1 Year Reg only seems to have applied only in WWII, even though it doesn't state it, it might of carried over after the 2 March date for very late war (Guys drafted in the Summer of 1945), and very early post war draftees (Guys drafted right after V-J Day, not sure when the very very last guys of the WWII period were inducted and left for Basic, late 1945 early 1946???),.

 

After that starting in 27June 1950 (the start of the Korean War) , you got one "if less then 3 Years but more then 1 year", this covers two year draftee throughout the 50s into the early 70s when the draft ended, to include the Korean and later Vietnam Wars, even if you were a draftee say in the Vietnam Era, and never went over there, said man was say stationed first in Panama, then Ft Rucker.

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Reactivated on Okinawa in May, 1949, the 29th Regiment was attached to the 24th and 25th Divisions from 24 July to 5 September 1950. The 1st and 3rd Battalions suffered heavy losses during fighting in the vicinity of Chinju, Masan, and during the establishment of the Pusan perimeter. The Regiment returned to Okinawa in September 1950 where it remained until it returned to Fort Benning in November 1954.

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9 hours ago, P-59A said:

Reactivated on Okinawa in May, 1949, the 29th Regiment was attached to the 24th and 25th Divisions from 24 July to 5 September 1950. The 1st and 3rd Battalions suffered heavy losses during fighting in the vicinity of Chinju, Masan, and during the establishment of the Pusan perimeter. The Regiment returned to Okinawa in September 1950 where it remained until it returned to Fort Benning in November 1954.

I seen this entry before,that's the WIKI, but the fact of the matter is the two battalions of the 29th Inf Regt was totally destroyed and ceased to exist in July, same with the 24th Inf Div's 34th Inf Regt. The 5 September date? probably the date the unit was ordered reformed in Okinawa and or simply struck from 8th Army's Order of Battle, even though in no loner existed, or it's colors left Korea, that's if the 29th Brought them along, they may have left them on Okinawa with the Regimental HQs and Headquarters Company. This last brings up an interesting point, seems that the Regimental Commander never went to Korea, nor the Regimental Staff, the battalion commanders were just subjected to direct command and control of the 24th Inf Div.

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4 hours ago, P-59A said:

So was the 29th reconstituted with the old command structure in tact or was it a top down rebuild?

It would of had to be totally rebuilt on Okinawa since most of men where either Dead, Wounded in hospital, or Prisoners of the North Koreans, with the survivors now assigned to the 25th Inf Div and or the 24th Inf Div sill fighting in Korea. Don't know exactly what mission it would of been given when it was rebuilt, Far East Strategic Reserve???, if so that would mean re- commitment to Korea, or Defense of Japan if the USSR got into the war and tried to invade Japan, which was feared for quite awhile in late 1950-early=mid 1951, so much so that the Army sent two new divisions to Japan, the 40th and 45th Inf Divs and reactivated a Corps to command them, the XVI Corps, the 40th and 4th Inf Divs go to Korea and combat just switching  places with the veteran 1st Cav Div and the 24th Inf Div who now fell under XVI Corps.

 

When the 29th Inf was reformed it probably was under strength anyhow like it was in the summer of 1950 before it was sent to Korea, only this time it did have all it's three battalions now, but still under strength we would say, given the need for replacements in Korea, men being sent there rather then to the 29th Inf. Was it then a RCT?? Don't know, can't find any other units that were assigned to it to make it an RCT, to wit a Field Artillery Battalion and a Combat Engineer Company.

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