Rag House Airborne Pickups in Years past

[louie]

More airborne, hard to believe no one cared for this stuff. Nice baby blue Airborne Troop Carrier

[louie]

More airborne, hard to believe no one cared for this stuff. Nice baby blue Airborne Troop Carrier

few more pics

[louie]

few more pics

pilots name

[louie]

And yes, many of these came out too, though many without the belt.

[louie]

even the 506th landed in the rags

[louie]

even the 506th landed in the rags

few more pics

[louie]

more looks

[louie]

more looks

[19delta-uav]

All I have to say is wow! I need to get a job at a rag mill.

[APO472]

Great uniforms Louie. Is that 506th one named?

 

Thanks,

[T-Bone]

All I have to say is wow! I need to get a job at a rag mill.

 

OK I feel stupid, but what is a Rag SHop or Rag Mill? Same as a Thrift Shop?

 

T-Bone

[Cobrahistorian]

:drool2:

Oh my....

[kammo-man]

I know and have met Louie ,

He is an old friend of an old friend .

He shops in some of the rag mills that I go into .

Rag milling is VERY hard work involving back breaking work , endless sorting , breathing lint , and disapointment .

For every item Louie has posted here , and makes it look easy , he is NOT showing the crap one must go through every day and getting nothing .

99.9% of good finds at a mill are 100% legit in every way .

NO QUESTIONS ASKED .

Thanks for giving us a educatuion Louie .

owen

kammoman .

[louie]

When someone gives to the Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc..much of it is immediately baled up and wholesaled out to wholesale buyers of used clothes. Now, sit down when I tell you, MUCH OF IT IS SHREDDED, RECYCLED, ETC, AHHHH, NOOOOOOOOOOO, but yes, some is actually made into rags! Some wool is chopped up, sent to especially Italy, bleached white and made into cool new Italian sweaters. Yes, that 1st SSF Ike, can become a cool European fashion statement! In the mills there is always a huge bin, old refrigerator box, etc, marked, Army, military, etc..In there 90% + is pure crap stuff. Now mostly BDUs, Air force blues, tons of hunting clothes, workman's clothes, etc. But, every now and then you still find a nugget. Years back there was many nuggets, now, not so much. War has been over for too long, everybody got internet smarts, Saving Pvt. Ryan moved many people to think about throwing pop's or grandpa's stuff away. Went ragging today, and mostly new stuff, but found a nice 1st I.D. occupation piece with guy's cap, and all ribbons still on it. Not nearly as much out there now, but still out there. Most big cities have rag houses, but you must buy a minimum which means if no good stuff you get kicked out..The people who run them are almost always foreign since I can remember, though in the old days many were old Jewish rag dealers. Now mostly Armenians, Mexicans, some Asian, but it's def. not your Macy's by a long shot!

[kammo-man]

Word up .

[louie]

the 506th Ike has the name Summers written in it with also a different laundry number stamped in it.

[louie]

Here's a good one.. remember lady asking why I want this shirt, it's full of holes!!! It's for the chopping machine..

[louie]

look what's was on other side!!!!!! this was ones step from being ground up.. You cringe and nearly cry when you figure over the years how many went through all the way to the grinder to become mush.

[louie]

Here is his Ike. I had two of them, but one was lost in flooded garage and died a moldy death!

[louie]

Here is his Ike. I had two of them, but one was lost in flooded garage and died a moldy death!

Close up of Japanese made patch.

[TLeo]

Man, those are all great finds, but I really love those 2nd Marine Division patches. I never thought about checking out Good Will or Salvation Army thrift shops before. I'll have to start dropping by the local ones occassionally.

[vintageproductions]

Owen & Louie have definately scratched the surface about rag mills. They are very hard to get in to, and if you don't buy a certain amount, everytime you go in them, you will be booted. If you don't tip the sorters, you will be booted. If you look at someone the wrong way you will get booted.

 

We used to bring in the unsorted military bales, and sort them at our warehouse. On a average it was four to five thousand punds every other week or so. Granted sometimes you found tanker jackets, jump jackets, tiger stripes, patched jungle fatigues, flight jackets, WWII Camo, sometimes Civil War stuff and occasionally WWII German items. But for every one of those pieces there are hundreds of stripped dress tunics, civilian camo, police dept shirts, torn and mothed wool blankets and sleeping bags. Rule of thumb in a mill, if it is green or has patches it is military. no matter what it is. After we would sort everything, it would broken down into field jackets, bdu's, scout, overcoats, collectible ad misc. After all this would be moved, then you would be stuck with all the dirty, torn, abused unusuable stuff. By the time you finally get rid of all the garbage, then you got ready to start all over again with the next load.

 

Plus when the bales were delivered, you could tell instantly if they had been sorted. When you start breaking these 1000 pound bales and there are no serviceabe bdu's, or you find 30 wool blankets stuck in the middle, you know someone picked your bales. Rag mill owners, for the most part, don't have much loyalty and will cut you out in a second to make a extra dollar. The last bigload we brought in were four bales at around 3,680 pounds. In these bales were 3,600 pounds of current USAF blue tunics, with all the buttons cut-off, and the chevrons cut in half with a razor blade. When I called the rag owner, and complained that someone had stuffed these bales, we were pretty much told oh well. This was the last load we took from that mill, and they called us for two years trying to get us to take more rag.

So like Owen said earlier, it is hard / dirty work, and what you see what Louie has posted are just a handful of treasures. Ask him how many dirty, bug filled refrigerator boxes he has had to go through, and sort dirty clothes. Or if he sometimes has breathing probolems because of all the gross dust he has inhaled over the years.

[louie]

Man, those are all great finds, but I really love those 2nd Marine Division patches. I never thought about checking out Good Will or Salvation Army thrift shops before. I'll have to start dropping by the local ones occassionally.

 

 

Marine camo was not spared the indignity of the rags either!

[louie]

Even the Filipino Scouts, one of the toughest unit patches to find, was tossed out by someone. On an Australian Ike no less!

[louie]

A close up of a real tough patch to find.