This something I just discovered, Almond's Son was KIA in the Alsace with the 45th Inf Div.   Captain Edward Mallory Almond Jr. C.O. Company L 157th Infantry   https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7609350/edward-mallory-almond

Thank you for the information. I got it from a guy today that would get surplus from the government  for their search and rescue  team. He said you would never know what was in the boxes.

He's on the right. Are they regular 2R dismounted? They look so short.

These were made under a US government contract (DSA) for the Australian army. I'm assuming it was to try to get an allied nation to use the same equipment as the US Army. I have one of these M1956 covers as well as an LC-1 cover made for the Saudi Arabian Army in 1976. Tim

The USAF was using green MBU12s for most of the 80s. The two masks above are mine and I have a 3rd as a project. They have a noticeable difference in color of the hardshell part of the mask. They also had a unique comms setup compared to later MBU12s. I love the early masks and can't think of a standard issue version dated earlier than 1980. I think usaf 77-79 would have been MBU5. MAYBE the new 12 would have crept in but I havnt found any documents on that yet. I'd be very interested to see photos of any normal production mbu12 with a late 70s stamp on it.  These photos are from the flight gear room at Edwards AFB in 1986. A mix of green and the grey that was coming into the mix. Selfie is my dad backseat of a T38 in 86' with a green MBU12

Fantastic! Thx for posting. Great images - the details of the feathers are striking. The applied colors are a nice touch.  It is nice to see another pin with provenance. 

Thanks for the information

Father Time is a mean son of a gun and he never lets up.  

Thanks Blind Pew for your posts and insight.  I have wondered many years about this pin and am glad to know the rest of its story.    I agree, the crude reverse contrasts sharply with the intricate detail of the obverse.  The clasp on my grandfather's badge is identical to one of the pieces Escadrille presented.  That helps.  

I was an undergraduate student at Davidson College, 1987 - 1991.  Locally, in Charlotte, NC, there was an open - air/under the roof/inside the building expansive flea market called the Metrolina Expo.  It was there, sometime 1988 - 1989 that I bought the only military dagger I've ever owned, a genuine, authentic, great condition SA dagger with the leather/metal hanger...  $125.  I sold that dagger about fifteen years later for $350.   During my time with 437th AW at Charleston AFB, sometime in mid - 1992, we hosted a delegation of Russian [formerly Soviet] air force officers.  I could smell the Stoli half a mile away.  One guy, a lieutenant colonel,  apparently their leader, looked [and behaved] like Genghis Khan, dark hair, swarthy skin, black eyes, handlebar moustache and all...     I had the privilege of showing these Slavs and Mongols around the facilities of our wing's supply squadron.  At the time, I had some elementary knowledge of the Russian language [thank you, Dr. Bonnie Marshall] so that's how I was picked for the task.  We'd spent most of our AFROTC education at UNCC AFROTC Det 592 studying "our Soviet adversaries", to no avail, as the USSR ceased to exist seven months after I was commissioned.   I gave them, to their delight, a few of our spare cased decorations...  JSAM, AFAM, AFCM...  nothing of any great prestige.  Really, their uniforms looked like Brezhnev - Era cast offs, and none were wearing any of the stuff they were awarded when the Russian Air Force was the Red Air Force.  What few "pins" they had on their tunics looked like something you'd pick up at a souvenier stand for the tourists on Arbat Street in Moscow.   What I did get was a bone - crushing bear hug from Colonel Genghis, a big smile, and an enquiry about my Timex wristwatch.  So... In the interests of diplomacy, Ming the Merciless got to take that home with him as well.