Thank you for you service my o friend.

The only US Army uniforms utilizing gold braid / “scrambled eggs” in the 20th Century for field grade and general officers were dress blues, dress whites and then in the late 1950’s, the Army Green uniform.  Doug always utilized his  custom general officer hat that he started wearing in the 1930’s as Field Marshall of The Philippine Army.   And currently, field grade officers and above no longer wear gold braid with the new style Army uniform. 

That looks to me like a WW1 era style clasp. You have a nice one and thanks for showing!

Thanks for getting the photo back.

Yes.  I see no problems with it.  

Very cool ! Late 50's-early 60's. The Benrus-brand flares pre-date the Mk79 flares. The earliest dated Mk79 flares I have seen were dated 1963. The BUAER mirror and PSK two-part kit were common in the late 50's as well.

The next items I’m not sure about.    

I picked up a small lot of Civil War recently and  several items I’m not sure about or I don’t know what they are. First is identifying what this decoration is on the cap box and secondly what is this pouch?  

Nice helmet.

Found this several years ago at an antique store. I’ve never been able to find any pics of a similar one. Was it common for them to paint their squadron's insignia on the helmets?