Named/tac marked USMC lower packed field modified

[Ray42]

I got pretty lucky yesterday and found an item I have been wanting for a little while: a piece of used USMC field gear that has UNIS or tac marks on it. I got lucky and found this in a stack of various military packs.  The front has the crossed out name of R. S. Bailey which I think is Rex S. Bailey who was with the 3rd bn of the 10th Marines in Tarawa and later was with the 2nd 155mm Howitzer Bn for Saipan, Guam and Iwo Jima. Under the flap is a marine corps tactical mark, I do not know what it means but I suspect it may be for the 2nd Howitzer Bn.  To top of the cool factor the pack has been modified by sewing a ww2 era belt to the end of the top strap to make a sort of satchel out of it. Since the records I found show Rex to be a machine gunner with the 2nd Bn during Iwo I wonder if the bag could have been used to carry belts of ammo on the island. 

[olivedrab1970]

Nice Find! I need to get out more and start looking as well.

Robin-

[robinb]

The trouser belt addition is a bonifide modification for corpsman use.

[Ray42]

47 minutes ago, robinb said:

The trouser belt addition is a bonifide modification for corpsman use.

Wow I did not know that, is there a thread on the subject where I can learn more? Rex must have donated his lower pack to a corpsman to be made into a pack, which would explain why his name has been crossed out. This might mean that the Tac Mark is for whatever Corpsman ended up with the bag.

[Blacksmith]

Wow, that is exceptional, congrats!

[robinb]

If you decipher the unit marking it'll explain mine on this Army musette bag. This bag still has train ticket tags hanging on it from Nov 3 1945.

[Ray42]

I will see if I can find some connection to a corpsman to explain why it got modified.

1 hour ago, robinb said:

If you decipher the unit marking it'll explain mine on this Army musette bag. This bag still has train ticket tags hanging on it from Nov 3 1945.

 

 

That is a cool one, and you are right it looks similar to mine so maybe it was used by a similar unit. I am thinking maybe the markings are related to being used by a corpsman because otherwise it probably would have been crossed out like Rex's name.  

 

I am really happy to add this as my first piece of USMC field gear in my small USMC collection, I did not realize it was so neat when I first got it. The fact that it is a corpsman bag is something I didn't dare hope for.

[robinb]

Photo of an unidentified Signal Corps unit in the Philippine's. Similar unit marking.

[Ray42]

That is interesting how similar they are, and I like seeing it stenciled on the back of the guy's shirt like the marines did.  Too bad it wasn't a marine unit.

[robinb]

For what its worth, the number on my musette bag is the same as on the boxes in the photo. 

[Ray42]

Interestingly I found another of these modified bags, minus the markings, and thought it was worth sharing. This one has had the belt riveted instead of sewn to make the strap and the rivets are marked 45 which could help date it. I have not been able to narrow down an ID on the name yet but hopefully with a little research I can.