Jump to content

Large theater-made insignia 36th Infantry Division uniform grouping


36thIDAlex
 Share

Recommended Posts

      Excited to share my latest group in my 36th ID focus, a fantastic one to Edward Fiedler, a rifleman of A Company, 141st Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division.

 

      Fiedler hailed from Detroit, Michigan and worked alongside his father in a Chevrolet factory as a draftsman prior to being drafted himself in early 1944. He went through basic at Fort Sheridan and Camp Wheeler prior to going overseas where he was assigned to his combat unit on 7 December 1944. His arrival to the 36th was somewhat chaotic as he was brought up in a jeep right as his company was engaged in heavy combat in Riquewihr in the Vosges. Told to turn in his helmet and rifle, Fiedler and one of his close buddies were given medic cross-painted lids and a stretcher being told to act as litter bearers for the severely injured 1st Battalion. They retained this role for nearly a week, working day and night to drag wounded GIs and Germans from the city streets and fields as the final German push to keep the 36th off the Alsatian Plain rolled to a halt. Afterward he returned to his rifleman duties and continued on with the division pushing across the Moder, the Rhine, and into Germany itself.

 

Find his full story here: https://www.36thdivisionarchive.com/pa-36-fiedler

 

      In all it’s a fantastic group with some really stellar pieces. The highlight of course is what I believe to be a private purchase ike jacket (made of a finer wool material than most you see) that features regimental DUIs, theater made sewn ribbons, and a fantastic German-made T-Patch. Also included are various photos and souvenirs from his time in the 36th including two Chenille-style patches, his dog tags, and a replacements welcome pamphlet he would’ve received upon joining the division in December 1944. From his postwar service is a painting of him in his civilian worker uniform and his East-West Germany travel pass from 1947 among other things.

 

Very excited to have this set in the collection


 

5651FDA3-292F-4A1C-8256-2DF91E6B5795.jpeg.751af2327103bdebd4156cf00aaf627a.jpeg

C56CA3C4-3BD5-4465-A81B-5AD819D1EE7E.jpeg.d84f12bddd4f6910a940914d938a3da6.jpeg4F6D3DBC-79C5-41FC-87B4-6B134F9B6309.jpeg.cf44c18b70dac89b1cf5ef87670981fb.jpeg9FB4FB49-A9A8-4D1C-8241-EF15A162E902.jpeg.501d2019942d2fe7f7afc1fe57c746c7.jpegA232CE9D-A691-4B90-9763-8C01E3DC3C2E.jpeg.ae8a29bedafeea95c1e52eae0a1b55eb.jpeg3EBBFF7B-1FF1-427A-A0CB-E25BE27C5CDC.jpeg.11ad9d5a6ea838dac41faf6de15ee113.jpeg13A6A51E-FFB8-41CB-AE14-BEE3759D21D8.jpeg.689237e39ce5be2a1d21e40a7520f058.jpegA8566C10-B8A7-44EA-BA02-0434BDD67053.jpeg.23b2ca601620432b6eb689e038a5b7e0.jpeg9703762C-AA32-41F8-AAD2-E4F075DE200F.jpeg.5b2d41623dda6c778da7ff64f7e2f416.jpeg652C5D5C-A6F2-411D-8A56-FD5896100784.jpeg.09251a04a89402629bd4444eae8f5562.jpeg35C6CA21-C069-4050-868B-BE618CBB2B48.jpeg.e90c948dcd8b8969441bd08858fdd9e0.jpegA498D9BF-C3CE-4077-8F5D-FC29CA33C567.jpeg.8cddfc9737410b29f8641d2893b6d619.jpegBFF314E7-DA80-4675-BBC6-A25ED1EBBA38.jpeg.814120909e30322853dfa3132b868d21.jpeg4B2772EF-30EB-47AD-9A3C-38A817171FF3.jpeg.f1d4b892c534fb4cfb29b5eb3269af55.jpeg81D3687A-4CA0-4673-A6A0-224610E47D84.jpeg.f6924f464be22583dcb337d2ceeeb683.jpegACBE77E3-A034-445F-AD29-9E85442BA080.jpeg.ba79d5b610e391372cf77bad9adad92b.jpeg93D39D50-D2BA-4DAA-BDF5-CF2A57BB8D86.jpeg.281bd0dc94b8a1edaa774a8508d52aa9.jpeg3E8EA3AC-503B-4DA8-B527-8AF57236A94A.jpeg.f7c495769805ba8f701f4d8cb1b7c2f0.jpeg493CE79B-38C7-4D56-A479-76BD9DFF17FF.jpeg.30d5edbfa5b35542407cea672a83acf9.jpeg392423C5-75E0-464F-BDCC-DE288359EE33.jpeg.c90c54f13ed9b6f9792b18902c96a4c2.jpeg7883A216-6CBF-408A-BE2E-6F9876F5ACD9.jpeg.c2b5d7f84578735b4710aaddf8a60e1b.jpeg9A8CE16A-2794-4FC3-BA78-5B11F0EEBBD5.jpeg.be0ae4a47fc0bbfcf6ab858ae3dd155b.jpeg761000CB-724A-4EC1-90CF-26A3C6E2ABCE.jpeg.18c80308de183ac1908ec03a5aaf1adc.jpegB2CC5F4B-B3A2-4C23-975C-562DDC22C394.jpeg.3273089f0136863d7787ec360a0a2370.jpeg

 

3B8931B5-8B43-458D-97A4-3138F3431CB6.jpeg

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
Niner Alpha

The ribbon bars look to be out of place.  The bottom bar should probably be on top.  The Bronze star would be the first in the row on top.   The red and black is an occupation bar and the  multicolor with the yellow is a war victory badge are bottom row awards. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks all for the comments! @25thid the patch is a really great one, its a fairly difficult to find German made variant, I've never seen one on a uniform and only a few others in the wild so I'm excited to grab it. @Niner Alpha the ribbon bars are out of order however the veteran had them sewn onto the uniform like that. I'm guessing it was a tailor mix-up or he simply had the second bar made later and added on top.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
On 7/13/2022 at 1:49 PM, Niner Alpha said:

The ribbon bars look to be out of place.  The bottom bar should probably be on top.  The Bronze star would be the first in the row on top.   The red and black is an occupation bar and the  multicolor with the yellow is a war victory badge are bottom row awards. 

Quite often WW2 vets wore their ribbons out of order.

 

In fact it might be more common than not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

44 minutes ago, manayunkman said:

Quite often WW2 vets wore their ribbons out of order.

 

In fact it might be more common than not.

It could have been that way.  Probably the army didn't give them an order of importance list of decorations for their dress uniforms or told them that was the way to do it.  Vietnam veterans from my time, half a century ago, and two decades or more after WWII,  weren't given any instructions,  although when you see pictures of career soldiers in dress uniform from any era they seemed to have all been clued in to the official proper way to pin them on.   

 

I wonder about "sewn on" in the comment by the poster.   Medals came with pin on ribbon bars going back as far as I'm familiar.  Later day solders bought display ribbons that would fit on bars that would group them together on a uniform.

postrib-001.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are tailors mostly in Japan and Germany that would embroider ribbon bars and then sewn it on your jacket like a patch.

 

There are some men who have the ribbons sewn individually to the jacket.

 

You are correct that many knew how set up their ribbons, there are however many who didn’t.

 

Many members here have found jackets directly from vets with blatant mistakes in ribbon set up from placement, to bars being upside down, awards that aren’t official and in some rare circumstances the awards weren’t even earned.

 

I posted somewhere on the forum an article from an Army base magazine about the problem of the wearing of ribbons incorrectly by the troops.

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have one with ribbons out of order directly from the family. Was told they were in the wrong order by a well meaning ex-member here while displaying it locally. I just smiled and said, "That's the way he had it so it will have to stay that way as long as I own it."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...