Show your Navy Chief Uniforms!

[19MJR91]

19MJR91,

 

That uniform looks sharp (you are slightly taller than your grandfather ). What was his rating (is hard for these aging eyes to see that detail in the photo)?

 

Thanks! The sleeves are a little short on me; at 6'0'', I'm about an inch and a half taller than my grandfather was. I'm happy it fits me at all! And as for his rating, he was an electricians mate. I can't believe I didn't say that (make sure to click the pictures if you didn't, you'll get higher resolution images). He worked on "pigboats" taking care of the electric motors and spent a lot of time on Johnston Atoll. Unfortunately, he died when I was very young and was sick for most of the time that I knew him and these stories come from my father. He remained an electrician after the war as well. Apparently, he took my cousins, about ten years older than me, to the USS Intrepid museum and would correct the tour guides.

[rusl4]

Here's mine,

[sigsaye]

Nice Chief Quartermaster, why the officer hat?

[holdaas]

Fire Control Technician 1946 - 1955

 

I've been told there is no name in it.

 

Feeling pretty fortunate to have found this one...

[SergeantMajorGray]

Here's mine sorry for the poor pics I'm too lazy to take them down to photograph.

Number 1 WW2 CPO Carpenters mate unnamed came with pants.

 

Number 2 this one belonged to Earl Barrigar he joined the navy late in WW2 and was a steward on the USS Tidewater he made chief on that ship and he was later on the USS Shasta. The seller has this uniforms pants and garrison cap I will get when he gets it out of storage.

 

Number 3 a unnamed USCG Senior CPO radioman mess dress white uniform no pants. It's fairly modern maybe 80's? I don't think it's new.

 

[19MJR91]

I recently bought a nice group of stuff off of eBay. I'm not sure if the ribbons and sub badge are original to the coat (or if the sub badge is WWII, it's unmarked), it's unnamed, but it was all exactly in my size and I was looking for a nice new impression. I posted my grandfather's CPO uniform in this thread a while back too and it's nice to have a WWII cap to display his anchor on!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[19MJR91]

Pictures of me wearing it. I've got a blue cover on the cap because at the time I took these, I was in the process of cleaning the white cover, which was filthy when I got it.

 

 

 

 

 

[sigsaye]

The sub badge is definitely not part of that uniform as the silver dolphins for enlisted were not adopted until August 1950. Prior to that, the embroidered patch was worn. Until 1947, the embroidered patch was worn on the right cuff. After 1947' the embroidered patch was moved to the left breast, sewn above the ribbons. You can see why this last move led to the adoption of the pin on device.

[19MJR91]

The sub badge is definitely not part of that uniform as the silver dolphins for enlisted were not adopted until August 1950. Prior to that, the embroidered patch was worn. Until 1947, the embroidered patch was worn on the right cuff. After 1947' the embroidered patch was moved to the left breast, sewn above the ribbons. You can see why this last move led to the adoption of the pin on device.

 

Nice to know, thanks! Now that you mention it, the first uniform posted in this thread has an embroidered sub cuff patch. I can see why this group didn't sell right away, that's a pretty obvious flaw. I bought it really for the sizes though and I've seen Chief's caps go for more than what I paid for the lot. I think the shirt might be post war too, but that's not a big deal to me. Does the bullion rate look WWII to your expert eye? I'm quite fond of it.

[sigsaye]

Uniform looks good. Ribbons are WW2Navy, but I would think that a CPO with at least 8 years in would have a Good Conduct. Just sayin'

[19MJR91]

Duly noted. It will be nice to have a go-to item to replace the sub badge.

[19MJR91]

I could have put this up in the newly acquired section, but I figure it fits better here. I went out to a flea market today and picked up an eight button chief machinists mate coat for $20. The guy who sold it didn't know the name of the estate, unfortunately, but he said he had a few more things that went with it he would try to get to me.

 

 

 

 

 

I've never seen ribbons set up like this, but that's how they were on when I got it. The Victory Medal confuses me too because it's not a Navy style ribbon but the guy went out of his way to sew it on.

 

[1930artdeco]

IT should be three on the bottom then two ribbons above. did the seller sew it on or did the original owner? That is one nice uniform you got there.

 

Mike

[jguy1986]

That's not the first time I've seen a uniform with a double row of two ribbons. My guess is (assuming it's all original) he had the American / Atlantic bar from his earlier wartime service, then after his stint in the Pacific just got another bar and didn't bother with getting a new custom rack made up. Same with the victory ribbon, he just used what was around, 1/2" or not. Army guys wearing Navy sized ribbons, Navy guys wearing Army sized ribbons, it happened more than one would think.

 

Incidentally, I also managed to pick up a CPO jacket at the flea this morning, so after I take it out of the freezer in a couple days (I'm not taking any chances with moths these days), I'll try to take a pic and post it here.

 

-- Jon

[19MJR91]

I don't think the seller did anything to the ribbons. His only addition was some barbecue sauce I had to clean off the sleeve. I straightened out the bottom row of ribbons because they were on at a really jaunty angle, but my educated opinion is that they've been there for a while, the sewn on Victory Medal included. I'm glad someone has seen ribbons set up like that before though. And I'd agree that the American/European campaign medals came together, there's another set of them in the pocket.

 

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with it. It's a 39 long too, so while not as comfortable as the 42 regular I posted earlier, it still fits! And the bullion is lovely and all for $20? A successful day indeed.

[navyman]

I got Bellus records back and decided to put ribbons and combat badge on. The items added is what he earned. He was on the Thresher for 7 successful war patrols.

AS-14 Pelias TM3 1939-42 Aboard 9/5/41 to 9/6/42
SS-198 Tambor TM? 1942-43
SS-200 Thresher TMC(SS) 1943-44
SS-205 Marlin TMC(SS) 1944-45 New London Chief of the Boat
SS-63 O-2 TMC(SS) 1945-45
Highest Rate:
E7 - TMC(SS)
USN Retired- No
Dates of service: 7/20/1938 to 6/1/1946, service number 410-41-53

HIS OBIT.

BELLUS, Charles A. Charles A. Bellus, 90, passed away on Wednesday, (February 11, 2009). He leaves his loving wife of 68 years, Veronica; his son, Charles Jr.; his daughter, Cheryl and her husband Mel; as well as numerous grand and great grand children. Charles was a Pearl Harbor survivor stationed on the U.S.S. Pelias. He served on the U,S.S. Tambor and then the U.S.S. Thresher as Chief Torpedoman. He completed his war service as Chief of the Boat aboard the U.S.S. Marlin in New London. After the war he was employed as a commissioning engineer for Emhart Mfg. Co, where he traveled throughout the world, retiring in 1980. A private funeral will be held on Tuesday, February 17th with internment at Fairview Cemetery. Charles' family is grateful for the dedicated care rendered by the Hartford VNA and Hartford Hospital Hopice professionals. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to those organizations or to St. Thomas the Apostle Church in West Hartford. The Sheehan Hilborn Breen Funeral Home, 1084 New Britain Ave., West Hartford has care of the arrangements

[navyman]

His citation for his commendation

Scan.pdf

[19MJR91]

That's a really nice looking uniform and interesting research, good job! What is the ribbon between the Commendation Medal and the Good Conduct? I don't recognize it.

[navyman]

Thanks,

Its the navy unit citation.

 

Jason

[Josh B.]

Looking great jason. Keep it safe until we start working on our book!

[navyman]

Looking great jason. Keep it safe until we start working on our book!

I dedided to put the uniform in a jersey case I got off of ebay. I put his photo and his commendation citation in hard plastic sleeves and tape them on the ouside of the case. Sorry for the bad pic quality.

 

[carnut63]

 

I knew that I would get around to it eventually...so here it goes.

 

This one is a BMC coat from what I can tell about 1940-1941. The large buttons are right facing eagles and the small pocket ones are left facing...weird, ya maybe but I dont care I love this jacket. I hardly see any proven early CPO khaki coats. This one is named to Bud Coffey and came with a photo and his crossing the line certificate. The story goes that at the age of 17 he left the family without telling anyone where he was going. He enlisted in the United States Navy. His mother only knew of this when she received an allotement check for the rest of her life. According to the seller he served his first 15 years (1920-1935) aboard the USS Nevada. I cant prove this but what I have proved is that he was on the USS Craven in 1937 and in March of 1941 he was on the USS Henderson before transfering to NAS Miami where he was at through 1942. In 1945 he was on the USS Sunnadin ATO-28 until it was decommisioned. Shortly after that he got out and in the mid-50's was a crew member onboard a few vessels in Lake Huron transporting goods between Canada and Michigan.

In an effort to fix all my non-allowed posts with new photos I will repost them here with pics that you can actually view.

 

 

 

 

[carnut63]

 

Here is the one I picked up a couple weeks ago. It is not named but belongs to MoMM Chief Richard Gatling Hawn (as is evidenced by the CPO cap that I purchased at the same time from the same seller). He served on the USS Trout (SS-202). The Trout received 3 Presidential Unit Citations during WWII on the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th patrols which he must have been apart of. Hawn, along with most, if not all of the Machinist Mates on the trout during January-March of 1942 earned the Silver Star. In April of 1944 the Trout was presumed lost so he had obviously transfered before then. Richard Hawn died in June 1998 in Erie, PA (where this uniform came from)

 

USS Trout (SS-202) on wikipedia

 

Here is a copy of the Silver Star citation:

 

HAWN, RICHARD GATLING

Citation:

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star Medal (Army Award) to Richard Gatling Hawn, Machinist's Mate Second Class, U.S. Navy, for gallantry in action and participation in the accomplishment of an unusual and hazardous mission for the War Department in enemy-controlled waters during January - March 1942, while a member of the crew of the U.S.S. TROUT (SS-202). Carrying a heavy load of antiaircraft ammunition urgently needed by the beleaguered forces of General Douglas MacArthur in the Philippine Islands, the U.S.S. TROUT departed from Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, for Corregidor Island, Manila Bay, at 0900 on 12 January 1942, refueling at Midway Island on 16 January 1942. The U.S.S. TROUT proceeded on the surface until 21 January, traveling submerged thereafter during daylight hours. At 0230 on 27 January 1942, an unsuccessful night attack was made on a lighted vessel, resulting in the U.S.S. TROUT being chased by the vessel at such speed as to for the TROUT to dive in order to escape. On 3 February 1942, after dark, the TROUT made rendezvous off Corregidor with an escort motor torpedo boat. The TROUT then followed the escort at high speed through a winding passage in a mine field to South Dock, Corregidor Island, where she unloaded 3500 rounds of antiaircraft artillery ammunition for the Army Forces defending Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor. Twenty tons of gold and silver, securities, diplomatic and United States mail and two additional torpedoes were loaded on the TROUT for the return voyage. The TROUT cleared the Corregidor dock at 0300, 4 February and bottomed in Manila Bay during daylight on 4 February. Surfacing that night, additional securities and mail were loaded before the TROUT departed from Manila Bay through the mine field. On the return trip one enemy merchant vessel and one patrol vessel were attacked and sunk. The U.S.S. TROUT arrived at Pearl Harbor on 3 March 1942, after 51 days at sea.

Another. Out of the 150+ uniforms I own, this one is still my most prized.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KASTAUFFER]

Beautiful uniform.

 

I believe Hawn's medals were on Ebay a couple years ago. Ebay pulled the auction down before I could contact the seller. Who knows where they are now.

 

Kurt

[Guest reesedp]

I hope this is the right section... I was hoping to identify grandpas ribbons? Any help is greatly appreciated.