What a nightmare.....

[marentius]

...and I am damned sure it took him or her a lot of time to remove EACH and EVERY single cotton thread from the jj....

 

 

[marentius]

 

Brigadier General William E. Shedd III was ADC-B with the 1st Air Cav in VN from october 31st 1968 .He was later promoted to Major General.

This is a post Vn war jj as can be seen from the traces of the rank insignia so corasely and "surgically" removed,it has the shadow of the 1st air cav patch on the right sleeve and of another patch on the left sleeve..I'd be able to post some other pics for two of his jjs that "survived" not only the war but the "terrible" (judging from its effect)post war time.

[Sabrejet]

That's tragic...a form of desecration!

 

Sabrejet :pinch:

[Mr. Standfast]

Why would somebody want to do that....

[Robswashashore]

There oughtta be a law... :thumbdown: I wouldn't have believed it if you hadn't posted the picture...

[Huntzman]

OMG............................................................... :crybaby:

 

words escape me..................................

[Mr-X]

yes mate, that is a nightmare. Now I wont sleep. lol

[Manchu Warrior]

Wow, when I saw those photos I almost cried. :crying:

[Speedor]

Someone had to hate this jacket. Big time.

[kammo-man]

I recon he did it himself before donating it to good will.

 

 

owen

[Cobrahistorian]

Terrible to see such an erasure of history.

 

What's everyone's take on restoring something like this?

[kammo-man]

Its cooler to leave it alone .

If it was just a small section like a star thats another matter .

owen

[Cobrahistorian]

Its cooler to leave it alone .

If it was just a small section like a star thats another matter .

owen

 

The history's visible there, I guess, so leaving it alone makes sense. I just always wanna fix things when they're screwed up like that!

 

J

[kammo-man]

I know what you mean , but this one looks like it got the full starch treatment once ,preserving the stitching.

As we are collectors we are sorely temped to tinker !!!!

Buts its tempting isnt it ???

o

[paul_bish]

that's mad, must have taken ages!!!

[dg0223]

With a seam-ripper, a straight sharp razorblade, and a steady hand, it wouldn't be too hard or that time consuming. I agree this is a terrible thing to do to strip the uniform.

 

I purchased a patched Woodland BDU and a DCU that had been completely stripped. They both belonged to Lieutenant General Robert T. Clark. The BDU had a Ranger Tab, the 5th Army patch, a 101st Airborne patch, a CIB, Jump Wings, and Air Assault Wings. The only things missing were the nametape and the General rank, although you could see where the uniform had Major General rank, then later Lieutenant General rank. The name CLARK was also pressed into where the nametape used to be. The DCU was completely stripped, but you could see the scars of the nametape, Major General rank, a CENTCOM patch, a Ranger tab, a 101st Airborne Patch, a CIB, Jump Wings, and Air Assault Wings.

 

I purchased all of the appropriate patches for the DCU, but I couldn't bring myself to put them on the uniform. I thought I would be "dressing" the uniform up, since I hadn't found it completely patched.

 

I would want to restore General Shedd's uniform, but I would probably mess it up.

[Andrei]

I recon he did it himself before donating it to good will.

owen

The good general should have better kept it in his dressroom rather than destroying it that way... :crying:

[Spike]

Some people just don't care, probably afraid it would fall into the "wrong" hands with all the accoutrements.

[Flightmedic]

Most personnel these days will strip the rank and name from the uniform before they give/sell it away if stateside. If you are in the combat zone it is a must to do. You must also assure it cannot be utilized by the enemy. Usually cutting into pieces. Trash removal is done by indigenous personnel so as a precaution you shred as much of it as nessessary. Boots were split down the middle etc....

[gwb123]

Most likely this was done by the General's aide, or at least seen to by such a person.

 

Even when they are retiring, most General's have more important things to do than to sit there with a seam ripper and demil their uniforms.

 

I remember when a General Officer retired in Hawaii... I believe he was either the commander or assistant Division commander for the 25th ID. His aide took all his uniforms down to the Stadium Swap meet.... The swarm got to them and they were all gone within 2 hours. They were not as stripped down as this one, but I believe the name was removed. However, small island that it was everyone knew who they belonged to. It included some nice ERDL's.

 

I also saw what would have been a nice USMC LTC jungle fatigue with direct embroidered insignia in a surplus store on Oahu. It had been picked up out of a surplus pile in Kanehoe MCAS. It was also picked pretty clean, which was a heart breaker because direct embroidered, OD, USMC jungle fatigues are tought to find.

[jim46]

Trying to look at this from another perspective. Many members of this forum lovingly create framed displays of medals, patches, etc. that they have obtained. Isn't it possible that that is what became of the items off of this man's uniform? Maybe he, or someone in his family, took the patches off so they could display them.

[sgtdorango]

Trying to look at this from another perspective. Many members of this forum lovingly create framed displays of medals, patches, etc. that they have obtained. Isn't it possible that that is what became of the items off of this man's uniform? Maybe he, or someone in his family, took the patches off so they could display them.

I think what they are trying to say is that all the insignia etc were directly embroidered onto the uniform itself and someone pulled all the stitching off each thread at a time.....mike

[Patriot]

This most unfortunate circumstance reminds me of the fact that through the years, this has happened to COUNTLESS important uniforms. Where are all the General Officer uniforms from the American Revolution, War of 1812, or the majority from the American Civil War? Surely not all are accounted for, and they will likely remain that way.

 

I have read several times over the years how tri-corn hats, coatee's and the like were pitched right in the county landfill. About twenty years ago there was an old woman who sent a Civil War officer's frock, cap, and boots to the landfill. It was disposed of in such a way that it was likely never rescued.

 

Such tradgedies! Because of the awareness of collectors today, much more will have survived 200 years from now, than what has survived today from 200 years ago!