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WW11 Marine Corps Guadalcanal Jacket


craig johnson
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craig johnson

Went to my Dads today and decided to share this uniform. It has a short story to go with it. My Dad went to Midway Drive inn swap meet ( circa 1980's) (now a Home Depot) and all the medals etc were laying on the table. Dad asked him if there was more and he said he had a jacket ,but didn't think anybody would want it. Dad arranged to go pick it up at the house. Price for all was really cheap. Probably under $20.

 

The story that goes with this is he went to an Island (cant remember which one or how many) While they were fighting there ship was sunk and he lost all his stuff. When they finished fighting or for what ever reason they were sent to Australia. He was issued a Australian Military uniform. The Guadalcanal patch is Australian made. This jacket was eventually issued to him in Australia and the patches were sewn on there. The service strip was removed because he didn't do enough time to get it. Although after looking at the picture not sure why he wouldnt have pulled out all the string so who knows???. Russell wasn't sure who this jacket came from. Somebody getting out or from an unfortunate soldier killed in action.

 

Fact or what Russell told my Dad (Dad wrote this down)

 

Will Russell

I Co 3rd Battalion

5th Marine Regiment

1st Marine Division

Fleet Marine Force

 

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Would have tryed to get better pictures of the EGA's but my camera died.

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Dads wasnt sure why he had the top ribbons. Army correct??

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The uniform looks great, especially that 1st MarDiv patch!! Are there any tags inside it?

As for the other pic of the ribbons, I cannot tell what the middle top ribbon is, but looks like it could be scarlet with a dark blue stripe in the center, which would be a marine good conduct ribbon. While the marines in WWII typically wore the 1/2 inch wide ribbons, these could reasonably be correct. The seperate EGA you have pictured, however, is a later style seen from Vietnam to current.

Excellent jacket, super patch, and totally worth further research!

Gary

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Kurt Barickman

The top ribbon is the USN USMC Presidential Unit Citation. Looks like a great jacket but yes the EGAs are from a later period.

 

Kurt Barickman

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craig johnson

All these items were on the table for sale. Not sure why he had them. There is only one large EGA. The large EGA and the medal are covered with what looks like shelac. Maybe his grandkids had fun with them

 

Its my understanding that the small EGA's are correct and the larger one is later????

 

876699927_kARfX-L.jpg

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teufelhunde.ret
.... Its my understanding that the small EGA's are correct and the larger one is later????

876699927_kARfX-L.jpg

 

Visa-versa, the one shown here is for the barracks cover, the collar emblems are current issue.

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Hugh Ambrose's book "The Pacific" shows a picture of some Guadalcanal Marines in a "modified" uniform, with the 1MarDiv patch on them. One of the guys in the picture is still alive, or was at the time Ambrose wrote the book.

 

That picture was taken of those Guadalcanal survivors in Australia. The uniform pictured above is in line with the "modified" uniforms issued to the guys at that time. They took what they could get due to the war effort's inability to produce and ship enough supplies to them.

 

There is more than one documented event where people aquired locally tailored or produced uniforms during those days. Some more research would be nice on Will Russell to see if he was on Guadalcanal and then in Australia from USMC records.

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