Uniform Grouping to B-26 Pilot Capt Samuel J. Prentice Jr.

[mndoss]

I got this uniform grouping off of eBay a number of years ago now. It belonged to Capt Samuel J. Prentice Jr. who was a B-26 pilot with the 438th Bomb Squadron, 219th Bomb Group, which was part of the 12th Air Force. He flew 65 missions during the war earning 11 Air Medals. He graduated flight training with class 43-8 at Sequoia Field. Over the years I've been trying to do what research I can on him. Most of what I got I found on his obituary. I was able to get his Air Medal award card from NARA's online site. Golden Arrow Research was able to provide a few pages of his personnel file from NARA but it was mostly pay and entitlement paperwork pertaining to his time in flight school.

 

The uniform came with everything pictured except for the shirt which I added. There were also two extra ribbon bars for the EAME, American Campaign, and American Defense ribbon which I didn't include in these pictures. In the bottom of the suit bag are a piece of parachute cloth and a scarf. A few questions I haven't been able to answer, and hopefully someone can assist with, are why he has a 15th Air Force patch on his uniform. From my research the 438th BS was never attached to the 15th AF, and the Air Medals he earned were all with the 12th AF. The only thing I can think of is maybe late in the war he was attached to the 15th AF, or did some occupation duty with them. Of course, there's always the distinct possibility that the patch was added by someone else at some point later on. I'm also wondering why he has the American Defense Medal, since he enlisted on 9 March 1942, outside the criteria for that medal. Again, the ribbon bars could have been added by someone else after the fact. During my research I found a few references to him on the forums, including a post by his son. I reached out to him via email but haven't heard back. As always, if anyone has any additional information I'm always glad to receive it!

[mndoss]

Close ups of the pilot wings, ribbons, bullion 15th AF patch, and the tags inside the jacket.

[mndoss]

His crusher cap. It definitely looks like it saw a lot of action. The inside is very worn and I didn't see a maker's mark. The back of the leather sweat band is stamped "E-Z Cushion."

[mndoss]

The grouping came with his headphones as well. Aside from a little pitting on the metal parts and overall wear they're in decent shape.

[mndoss]

His class cruise book.

[mndoss]

His award card pulled from NARA's online repository.

[mndoss]

Two photos of him I found here on a forum posting.

[mndoss]

A story about him and a friend of his who ended up serving together in Italy. This was from the Manchester Evening Herald (his hometown newspaper) published on Tues, 15 Aug 1944.

[dmar836]

Very Cool. Would love to see that A-2 show up somewhere.

Dave

[warguy]

Very nice group, love the bullion patch, sun tan tunic and those original photos. Just a great grouping! Thanks for sharing. 

[aznation]

I'm just asking and am curious.  What other item/s other than the 15th AF jacket have any handwritten identifiers/name that lead you to believe it belonged specifically to

Samuel J. Prentice, and can you post pictures of those items?  I see on the label of the jacket with the 15th AF patch the name "Printice" but that's all I see in the photographs.  Obviously, I think Printice is incorrectly spelled and should be Prentice but I don't see a first name or middle initial, nor any officer service number.  I'm asking because there are three other different Prentice's that were awarded air medals and all three were in the 15th AF.  Thanks...Matt 

 

Source:  NARA Award Cards

 

 

[mndoss]

18 hours ago, aznation said:

I'm just asking and am curious.  What other item/s other than the 15th AF jacket have any handwritten identifiers/name that lead you to believe it belonged specifically to

Samuel J. Prentice, and can you post pictures of those items?  I see on the label of the jacket with the 15th AF patch the name "Printice" but that's all I see in the photographs.  Obviously, I think Printice is incorrectly spelled and should be Prentice but I don't see a first name or middle initial, nor any officer service number.  I'm asking because there are three other different Prentice's that were awarded air medals and all three were in the 15th AF.  Thanks...Matt 

 

Source:  NARA Award Cards

 

 

 

Matt, I doubled checked just now the uniform items again (jacket, trousers, shirt, tie, and cap) and I didn't see any other identifying marks aside from the last name in the jacket. I had saved the listing description for my records when I got it years ago. That description and the last name in the jacket are what led me to believe it belonged to Samuel J. Prentice. The seller I got it from stated they acquired it directly from the family. Now I fully understand that what a seller says can be completely made up and that in this hobby one should never go off the story, but between that, the last name in the jacket, and the fact that the grouping came with the flight school graduation book listing him are what make me think it's his.

 

Now, this could have been an elaborately put together group with the seller having a fake story, faking the name in the jacket, and having the book and throwing it in there for good measure. I wouldn't necessarily put it past anyone, though if that was the case I didn't get screwed out of a ton of money because I don't remember this costing too terribly much. It's one of those things where in the end we may never know. I have a FOIA request that I need to submit to NARA to try and get some more information on him and see if that has more information than what I got from NARA via Golden Arrow. Unfortunately that information didn't list anything operational from him, just from his training days. If I can at least get basic FOIA information listing what units he served in, and if he did in fact serve in the 15th AF after his time in the 438th BS then that helps answer some of the questions. As I mentioned in the original post I've also had my suspicions with the ribbons on the jacket as well, as the OLCs on the AM don't match up (unless he got two bronze OLCs instead of silvers ones by accident or just didn't care) and the American Defense Medal doesn't seem right either. If his son replies back to my email that might help clear things up too, but I sent that a few months ago now...

[aznation]

9 hours ago, mndoss said:

Matt, I doubled checked just now the uniform items again (jacket, trousers, shirt, tie, and cap) and I didn't see any other identifying marks aside from the last name in the jacket. I had saved the listing description for my records when I got it years ago. That description and the last name in the jacket are what led me to believe it belonged to Samuel J. Prentice. The seller I got it from stated they acquired it directly from the family. Now I fully understand that what a seller says can be completely made up and that in this hobby one should never go off the story, but between that, the last name in the jacket, and the fact that the grouping came with the flight school graduation book listing him are what make me think it's his.

 

Now, this could have been an elaborately put together group with the seller having a fake story, faking the name in the jacket, and having the book and throwing it in there for good measure. I wouldn't necessarily put it past anyone, though if that was the case I didn't get screwed out of a ton of money because I don't remember this costing too terribly much. It's one of those things where in the end we may never know. I have a FOIA request that I need to submit to NARA to try and get some more information on him and see if that has more information than what I got from NARA via Golden Arrow. Unfortunately that information didn't list anything operational from him, just from his training days. If I can at least get basic FOIA information listing what units he served in, and if he did in fact serve in the 15th AF after his time in the 438th BS then that helps answer some of the questions. As I mentioned in the original post I've also had my suspicions with the ribbons on the jacket as well, as the OLCs on the AM don't match up (unless he got two bronze OLCs instead of silvers ones by accident or just didn't care) and the American Defense Medal doesn't seem right either. If his son replies back to my email that might help clear things up too, but I sent that a few months ago now...

 

Hello, I was kind of thinking there may not be any more hand written identifiers in the grouping other than the name Printice in the jacket, although I hoped there would be.  I'll have to admit like you that the fact it came with a flight school graduation book listing Samuel J. Prentice would lead one to believe all those items might have belonged to him but you never know.  I do hope the son replies back to your email but it doesn't look too hopeful since it's been a few months.  It certainly would clear things up.  Can you advise what city and state you acquired the uniform from and was it an estate sale or an online sale?  Thanks...Matt

[mndoss]

9 hours ago, aznation said:

 

Hello, I was kind of thinking there may not be any more hand written identifiers in the grouping other than the name Printice in the jacket, although I hoped there would be.  I'll have to admit like you that the fact it came with a flight school graduation book listing Samuel J. Prentice would lead one to believe all those items might have belonged to him but you never know.  I do hope the son replies back to your email but it doesn't look too hopeful since it's been a few months.  It certainly would clear things up.  Can you advise what city and state you acquired the uniform from and was it an estate sale or an online sale?  Thanks...Matt

I got the uniform off of eBay. While I had saved the listing description for the grouping unfortunately I didn't save the seller's information so unfortunately I don't remember where it came from. I got it probably seven or more years ago now. Here's an archive of that listing on Worthpoint I found awhile back: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/named-wwii-15th-air-force-pilot-409413988. According to his obituary, Capt Prentice passed away in Penn Hills, PA in Dec 2003. Here's a link to his obituary: https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/triblive-pittsburgh-tribune-review/obituary.aspx?n=samuel-j-prentice&pid=182331498&fhid=9686.

 

I found a copy of his draft registration card on Ancestry. I was hoping to see if the handwriting on the card matched that of the tag in the jacket. They don't look like they do but then again that might not necessarily mean anything either. Now that things with COVID seem to be loosening up I'll need to mail out that FOIA request and hopefully get some more information back on him.-Mike

[aznation]

Hi Mike,

 

I doubt whoever the right Prentice is would've spelled their name incorrectly on the uniform tag.  It could've been one of the uniform cleaners that wrote the name incorrectly.

 

The uniform tag states the size as being a size 37.  I wonder which one of these gentlemen would the uniform have fit best on?  Still kind of hard to decide I'm guessing.

 

Samuel J. Prentice, Jr. - 5' 10", 160lbs (12th AF)

Louis Hugh Prentice - 5' 9", 130lbs.  (15th AF)

Bonnie Glenn Prentice - 5' 7", 133lbs. (15th AF)

Merrill Arthur Prentice - 5' 9", 150lbs (15th AF)  Note:  Merrill was KIA in Italy on August 29, 1944 when his B-17 went down.

[mndoss]

Matt,

 

Thanks for finding their height and weight! Based off of that I would say a size 37" chest would best fit either Samuel Prentice or Merrill Prentice, of course that's just a semi-educated guess. I'm 5'11" and `180lbs right now with probably a size 39-40 inch chest for my own uniform. When I first came in the Marine Corps I was probably a little closer to the 160lb range and was I think a 38" chest. Obviously not the best way to judge but I feel someone weighing in the 130lb range would be smaller than a 37" chest, though I could easily be proven wrong. I appreciate all of your help with this!

[aznation]

9 hours ago, mndoss said:

Matt,

 

Thanks for finding their height and weight! Based off of that I would say a size 37" chest would best fit either Samuel Prentice or Merrill Prentice, of course that's just a semi-educated guess. I'm 5'11" and `180lbs right now with probably a size 39-40 inch chest for my own uniform. When I first came in the Marine Corps I was probably a little closer to the 160lb range and was I think a 38" chest. Obviously not the best way to judge but I feel someone weighing in the 130lb range would be smaller than a 37" chest, though I could easily be proven wrong. I appreciate all of your help with this!

 

You're welcome.  I also noticed next to the size 37 on the tag there is "31-35" which I believe to be the officer's pant size.  Obviously someone that was fairly slim but also taller than 5' 7" I think which would leave out Bonnie G. Prentice.  I'm 5' 7" (I won't share my current waist size (ha)), but I wear pants with an inseam of 31 so an inseam of 35 would obviously be 4 inches longer.

[mndoss]

20 hours ago, aznation said:

 

You're welcome.  I also noticed next to the size 37 on the tag there is "31-35" which I believe to be the officer's pant size.  Obviously someone that was fairly slim but also taller than 5' 7" I think which would leave out Bonnie G. Prentice.  I'm 5' 7" (I won't share my current waist size (ha)), but I wear pants with an inseam of 31 so an inseam of 35 would obviously be 4 inches longer.

As I mentioned earlier I'm 5'11" and trousers with an inseam of 34" usually seem to work best for me, so I think 31x35 trouser measurements would work for a 5'10" 160lb individual. I guess this reinforces the jacket most likely being Samuel Prentice's. Now I just need to figure out the 15th AF patch...

[aznation]

2 hours ago, mndoss said:

Now I just need to figure out the 15th AF patch...

 

Let us know if you get this figured out.  I know I'd be interested in the outcome.  Thanks...Matt

[mndoss]

10 hours ago, aznation said:

 

Let us know if you get this figured out.  I know I'd be interested in the outcome.  Thanks...Matt

Matt, I definitely will!

[mndoss]

I'm resurrecting this thread because I finally got around to submitting a records request directly to NARA to see what they could find on Capt Prentice. I sent in the request about a month ago, expecting a really long wait time, and shockingly enough late last week they got back to me. There were two files, one that was just a letter stating that his records were in the worst part of the fire and they couldn't locate enough to completely fulfill my request. The second file consisted of four pages that they were able to find, and it was exactly what I needed. Now that I've got his discharge paperwork, I can get a better grasp of his service. It looks like he spent his time overseas with the 12th AF, and then in the fall of '44 transferred back stateside to transition to being a B-29 pilot and then training new B-29 pilots for duty overseas. He served in this capacity with the 2621st AAF Base Unit. This now leads me to question how the 15th AF patch wound up on his uniform. The ribbons aren't correct either, which I already surmised from my previous research. That, I think, is a little less confusing. Now where in the new paperwork I received does it show service with the 15th AF.

[Big Iron]

If he was a B26 pilot, he could have flown with the 15th for a time. The 9th AF eventually became the consolidation point for the B26s in the ETO. In an era of not everything being digital, is it possible that he would have been transferred and it not recorded?

 

65 missions in a 11 months...that's a lot. I have a named uniform to a 9th AF bombardier (in a B26 named Taconite Express 2) with 12 oak leaf clusters but fewer missions. I wonder if it has to do with type of mission?

 

I could see the American Defense ribbon being mistaken for the American Campaign as well, so not a damning piece of insignia.

[mndoss]

54 minutes ago, Big Iron said:

If he was a B26 pilot, he could have flown with the 15th for a time. The 9th AF eventually became the consolidation point for the B26s in the ETO. In an era of not everything being digital, is it possible that he would have been transferred and it not recorded?

 

65 missions in a 11 months...that's a lot. I have a named uniform to a 9th AF bombardier (in a B26 named Taconite Express 2) with 12 oak leaf clusters but fewer missions. I wonder if it has to do with type of mission?

 

I could see the American Defense ribbon being mistaken for the American Campaign as well, so not a damning piece of insignia.

I'm going to see if I can get a copy of his flight logs, that might shed some light on what other units (if any) he flew with aside from the 12th AF. I imagine though, if his discharge paperwork shows his last operational unit as a squadron that was with the 12th AF, he would have sewn that on the jacket. Of course, who knows?

I agree with you on the American Defense, I feel like sometimes servicemen might have threwn that on their uniform because they either got it confused with the American Campaign or thought they rated it based off the name of it and not actually looking at the regs for it. My in-laws have a binder with some paperwork for my Grandfather-in-Law (USCG veteran who served in the PTO) and in there are his loose ribbons. Included with them was an American Defense ribbon, which according to an official letter from the USCG when he was discharged (also included in the binder) listed the ribbons he was entitled to, and the AD was not one of them. Who knows how/why he acquired that one?