Hello, I was wondering how much this helmet would be worth. It is a fixed bale front seam helmet. The heat-stamp is 270B and with last pattern chinstraps. The helmet came with a woodland camo helmet cover. It has a Vietnam liner made by Westling House with 107 stamped right above it. The sweatband is dated 88’. The helmet has been named 4 different times, with the names R.D Holt, Plamondon, V.G. Burns and Andrew H. Thank you for help.

I was wondering how deck jackets were marked up for use on the PT boats during WW2.  I read that these jacket were issued differently to those on board ships and aircraft carriers in that such jackets were accountable as ship stock and issued when working in the cold on deck and marked accordingly to working areas  of the ship. With smaller PT boats there was no room to store such clothing and individually issued for the type of working environment which PT boats were exposed too.  I was told that a patch of cloth or Disney style patch usually featuring a character on a torpedo  was on the right of the coat or similar art work was on the back of the jacket with name of crew either on front above USN logo on left or on back with hull number ie PT102 and boat squadron, not in any order but marked up on the lines inspired by the  airforce and using paint to hand either with cut stencils or by hand. Not sure if this is correct as it would be nice to see the type clothing used on PT boats not just the Pacific but in the ETO as well were it could be colder. Any reference books about on such a subject or photos.

Nope, he went to John Carroll University.  Hayden

All look WW2 era 

I agree with all the above. I collect only AAF but the line where a "grouping" becomes anything more than interesting story to only one man compared to historic value is pretty thin for me. Period engraved medals and uniform items are an example. Now, once you have a patched and painted A-2 jacket or other display items, collectors would pay a premium (historic value or not). A primarily paper lot is interesting to see the older type of paper, type print, and vintage paper clips and staples. The actual info on them tends to be fairly standard to all such papers and is available from online records, NARA, etc. I love having complete groupings (though much of my collection is not that at all) but I ask myself and also observe "What am I able to appropriately display?" and "What will people actually stop and look at?" Most people are not at all impressed at an original pay journal that the vet actually held and signed and more than a photocopy of a page. Consequently, the uniforms are displayed and appreciated and the paperwork and pic stay in folders in a closet. To a medal collector, the signed medals may be of display interest while the uniform items, pics, and documents would need to be stored elsewhere. Also, remember "historical" significance means it's just old. "Historic" significance refers to its importance in history. That's where the value part starts to bifurcate IMO. To most of us this is all very important but to an archive that has tons of similar stories and artifacts it is just more of the same "historical" items.   What original papers in a grouping say to me is this isn't a few items that has passed from person to person with some photocopies of the vet's records but rather something that has been kept complete directly from the vet or his family. That is a different grouping. Same info but different for sure. Very nice stuff. JMO, Dave

And it just keeps getting better!  

Thank you for the comments. I may not have done the best job showing everything in the initial photos. While there is some supporting research included, the majority of the archive consists of original wartime material retained by the family, including original correspondence, photographs, award-related documents, casualty paperwork, press material, and other period documents. I’ll try to post additional images of some of the original documents so the scope of the archive is clearer.

Patches have been around for hundreds of years. We often get tunnel vision about our areas of interest. Patches are/were used for more than the military we often collect. Club and school patches, special organizations and veteran groups, etc. all had some fairly ornate crests and, thus, jacket patches. If you travel much, you will still see kids in matching school uniforms including sweaters and patched jackets. The UK and India come to mind.  Go do a search and see what Pakistan patch makers still offer today. It's an eye opener. Dave 

Amazing finds!!  One of the great things is noting the April 1949 date on the Purple Heart award, and the script engraving. Off the top of my head, that may be one of the latest script engraved medals I've run across.