. Funny events these past three days.   I found it funny that several posts were made here on the forum in the last couple of days, and I had lunch today with my daughter Lauren, ex-wife Tanya, sister Megan and grand-daughter Aurelia, a family day out.       Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 17 April  2O26.   ..

Hello, I was given this at my job and I was told it is a USN flotation belt.  Any information about it is appreciated as well as I know little about US militaria. Thanks John

Hello, I was given this at my job and would like to know what era this helmet is from: WWII, Korea, Vietnam?. Any other information is appreciated as well as I know little about US militaria. Thanks John

From what I gathered this is a US M69 60MM Practice Mortar as was used for training purposes and I would like to ask if anyone has any idea of the manufacturer year or how long these were in service. Any other interesting information is appreciated and welcome as well. Thanks John

My guess is that this uniform was worn during the Vietnam War but it had a different SSI sewn on the right shoulder.   This sailor was probably active duty during the war with one of the IUWGs in South Vietnam and after the war joined one of the stateside MIUW Reserve Units.  This sailor simply removed his active duty patch and replaced it with their generic reserve unit patch.  You didn't see this triangular patch being worn until maybe the late 1970s and early 1980s.  It is their earliest design as it changed background colors and wording (see photo).  You see it worn on BDUs and on the various desert pattern camouflage uniforms.  Their history is convoluted and hard to follow as they kept changing designations and I think the US Coast Guard has taken over some of their functions regarding the force protection of harbors.      

. Back in the day 2014 on Amazon.   A couple of posts above I mentioned that I had taken a screen grab of prices for my book on Amazon,  I thought the highest price I had seen was $1,184, now having found the screen grab again it was actually $1,899.33. which was really weird seeing all the books at lower prices mentioned above this price.  It was being sold as a first edition signed by the author, not so rare really as the first 4,500 were hand numbered and signed, what I did like about the first edition was the nine carat gold leaf on the spine and the design on the front hardboard under the loose leaf cover.      Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 17 April  2O26.   ..

Thanks for your help John

You have a picture of the device on the canopy without the gunner in the way?

The best thing is to get it to someone who will take care of it whether an institution or an individual.   

A possible place to donate the items would be to the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, TX.