2nd Emergency Rescue Squadron “Snafu Snatchers”  

It’s a beauty. About as flat-new as you’ll find.

Gilbert G. Coen was a P-51 pilot in the 504th Fighter Squadron which was part of the 339th Fighter Group stationed in England.  We were very fortunate to meet Mr. Coen around 20 years ago.  At the time, I worked with Mr. Coen’s son at Hewlett-Packard (HP).  When I learned his father was a P-51 pilot in Europe, I asked his son if I could introduce my 10 & 8 year old kids to him.  So he arranged for us to stop by his folks’ place on a Saturday afternoon.  Previously, I had taken my daughter & son to some air shows which showcased many WWII fighters & bombers.  But I never thought I would have an opportunity for them (or myself) to meet a WWII fighter pilot.  So I viewed it as a chance of a lifetime.   We had a wonderful Saturday afternoon!  Mr. Coen just loved my kids.  He really enjoyed telling some of his tales from Europe as much as we enjoyed hearing them.  He documented one of these stories which I have an original photocopy, titled MID-AIR COLLISION OVER GERMANY.  Unfortunately, the 2nd page is missing but page #1 tells the bulk of the story.  My son Jake, the 8 year old, took his Mega-Bloks ProBuilder P-51 Mustang kit that he had recently assembled.  Mr. Coen thought this was just so cool.  This is a day that my kids & I still talk about.   Within 2 months of meeting Mr. Coen, he passed away.  His son told me we were the last non-family he had seen and that Saturday afternoon with my kids had uplifted his spirits.  Because of this, Mrs. Coen gave us the items pictured: 339th FIGHTER GROUP hardback book, MUSTANG AT WAR by Roger A. Freeman hardback book, three 339th P-51 FIGHTER GROUP decals and an original copy of his MID-AIR COLLISION OVER GERMANY story.   I have met a handful of celebrities in my lifetime (Dan Aykroyd, John Mellencamp & Jerome Bettis), but they don’t compare to meeting Mr. Coen.

One of the items i missed, USAF Korean War duffel bag.    

Todays flea market finds, I must admit that I missed out on some good stuff.

WOW...what a score!

The OP are AN6530 used by every service for a multitude of tasks, mainly aviators but not limited to….    the goggles in #7 look to be post war based on the box, the goggle will have a date on the face plate near the strap..the goggle should also have more data on the top by forehead 

These were kind of unique to the SS TK standarte (pre Division size) I have a small collection of them, different shapes, and you see them for shits, jackets. etc.  the interesting thing is that the unit must have had some sort of embossing machine as you will see dog tags from this unit done like this as well.  That all being said, Please post the GI's info who brought this back or as a non US item, I will have to lock the topic!

Hi everyone Just couldn't resist anymore and got (sucked into) collecting WWII US SSI as well (next to British and Belgian named medals and WWII German paperwork).  As a paper collector the issue of storing is rather important given the sometimes brittle and fragile state of the items. So care has to be taken to keep paper in acid free sleeves without "softeners" in the plastic and preferably out of the light so they are still "alive" in say 30 years.  I was wondering if that is actually an issue with (long term) collecting of patches as well and,  if anyone takes this into account when choosing display method or not?  Thanks for your opinion/advise for this newbee patch collector!  

Calling that helmet a Vietnam camo is pure fantasy.  But it helps sales to fabricate all kinds of stories.     I am not a Vietnam collector or historian, but I am almost positive I have seen photographic evidence of non-traditional camos being worn in Vietnam posted on this forum over the years....painted M1's, burlap, etc.   Like 644td said, it probably happened.  Is that helmet on Bay State a Vietnam camo?  That's anybody's guess.  And if it came directly out of the vet's duffle bag he would have mentioned that, but he didn't.  It's just a story.