Navy Cross uniform

[Daughter in law]

I am new to this so if this is redundant, I apologize. I am ray Klingerman's daughter in law. He did retire from the reserves with the rank of Commander. The only photos I have of him are in his flight jacket or his dress uniform. Dave his son, says that this could be his handwriting but it was a long time ago. He is now 93. We did get him to dictate his nc activity several years ago.

[DKNYC71]

I would return this uniform if that option still exists. There are plenty of nice tunics and uniforms out there in the market to purchase and many more coming as older collections break up and come to market. Why bother with something like this tunic where the ribbons were most likely added or "restored" I would never be comfortable with something like this in my collection.

[Dave]

First, I'm not a fan of the ribbons...they appear to be replaced. They are simply far too clean and unworn looking for as old as they should be.

 

Second, daughter in law just posted a photo of the original wearer and...I haven't had enough coffee yet this morning, but....it looks like he wore oak leaf clusters on his Air Medal! I'd like to see a bigger image of him in his dress uniform, but the way the light hits the devices, they don't look like stars... http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/181298-navy-cross-uniform/

 

Third, before sending it back, I'd contact daughter in law and see if the vet or family wants it back...only seems to be the right thing to do in my opinion...

 

Dave

[RustyCanteen]

I would return this uniform if that option still exists. There are plenty of nice tunics and uniforms out there in the market to purchase and many more coming as older collections break up and come to market. Why bother with something like this tunic where the ribbons were most likely added or "restored" I would never be comfortable with something like this in my collection.

 

Since this thread was originally posted in 2010, it seems doubtful that he still owns it.

[Dave]

Since this thread was originally posted in 2010, it seems doubtful that he still owns it.

Good call! I didn't see the original date here on the iPad. Must have missed it the first time around!

[KurtA]

Anything short of a period photo showing him wearing this exact uniform, request a refund.

Kurt

haha! It appears that photo with oak leaf clusters has been provided! I stand corrected.

[hink441]

Do you guys think those are OLFs ?? Looks like they are the large stars to me.

 

I am old though and my eyesight is not what it used to be!!

[JakeBird6684]

I know this is 8 years later, but I just purchased this uniform, what is the general consensus

[collectsmedals]

On 6/21/2010 at 8:27 PM, ww1collector said:

Needs a shirt and tie-what colors should they be?

I am not going to enter into the authenticity discussion, but to answer this question; the shirt should be tan and the tie should be black, See photo.

[chis]

Congrats to the new owner. I looked at this uniform for a considerable amount of time during SOS. I came to the conclusion the jacket was most likely his war vintage uniform. Ribbons were added when he was Commander in the reserves post war (especially since his interview mentions he didn’t even know he got the NC until he was already in the reserves). They didn’t glow in black light and things seemed to match up. An impressive uniform.

Here’s a link to an interview with him that describes his service more. I sure there is plenty more opportunity to research this WW2 hero.

http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.92695/transcript?ID=mv0001


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[JakeBird6684]

32 minutes ago, chis said:

Congrats to the new owner. I looked at this uniform for a considerable amount of time during SOS. I came to the conclusion the jacket was most likely his war vintage uniform. Ribbons were added when he was Commander in the reserves post war (especially since his interview mentions he didn’t even know he got the NC until he was already in the reserves). They didn’t glow in black light and things seemed to match up. An impressive uniform.

Here’s a link to an interview with him that describes his service more. I sure there is plenty more opportunity to research this WW2 hero.

http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.92695/transcript?ID=mv0001


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Chris, what made you decide the ribbons were authentic to the uniform, there was much debate over the legitness of the ribbons. That is mostly my concern.

 

Jake

[chis]

First, I’ll say I’m probably not the worlds expert on navy ribbons. I’ve been collecting for about 30 years and have just handled a bunch of items. I’d state the following is my opinion. There is no way to guarantee the ribbons are absolutely from the pilot, but we can use judgement to determine if they are of period origin and therefore more likely to be original.

Looking closely at the ribbons, I first noticed they didn’t glow at all under black light, this dated the ribbon fabric and thread to at least the time of his reserves. Secondly, the ribbons matched to what I had quickly researched in his bio and in his interview. The seller didn’t know his bio so if they (or a previous owner) had added the ribbons, they had done a very meticulous job of research and ribbon and thread period accuracy without then using that as a selling point. The picture on the forum confirms his use of OLC devices. Lastly, per the interview, he received is NC after the war when he was a reserve squadron commander. The WW2 victory and reserve ribbon and NC ribbon date it all to that time. It just looked right for a post war ribbon update. It all just seemed to add up to a legit NC uniform. Hard to find something like this and it’s a nice period uniform.