Dan,  You solved the mystery which no one else has been able to do. Thank you! Your response was completely documented with images of records. And, I see you hustled and didn’t rest until you completed the research. You sent it all to me at midnight. How did you do this? You explained how it was that my dad was in the “Tough Ombres” through their extensive training, but was reassigned to train for the AAC as gunner/bombardier. The wings on his jacket, I believe, are for cadet. Interestingly, there were bars Abby his prized possessions, but, like the larger silver wings, were not attached to his uniform.  Thank you, again.     

I really love this photo. Do you happen to remember where you found it and which unit this is?

@Blacksmith and @KurtA  Thank you both for your insight. Do these pictures offer any better clarity for an ID? 

He needs to move the decimal point over one space to the left.  

Based on the witness statement in the file, the enemy aircraft were shot down in aerial combat rather than destroyed on the ground. The witness described Andrews engaging enemy aircraft before he was shot down himself.

I don’t think a 101st paratrooper, which is much more expensive, would bring that much.   This thread is now pointless and with the latest development it’s unrealistic too.    

Thanks for this information.  Here is a poor picture of this unit made up of Japanese Americans from WW2.  The background may well be these woods you speak of.

Many collectors see themselves more as preservers and care takers of history, not investors, mentioning money is not honorable.   While I agree with them in many respects, I grew up around collectors who were cut throats, liars and cheats,  so they wouldn’t discuss value and ripped you off every chance they got, there are still many people like this so it’s nice to get some help.   So when people don’t want to discuss value it just a little bit reminds me of them but not all of them because there are honorable people in this hobby.   Another question, the enemy planes destroyed were they on the ground or dog fight kills?  

Very doubtful that this is a 714th BS patch.    It has popped up as a mystery patch a few times, but to the best of my knowledge has never been identified. I have one as well that came in a large signal corps collection, but the previous collector was never able to confirm an ID. 

He has listed this group on eBay for 10k.