That's a nice tough to find DUI. 743rd. Tank Bn. material does not come up often. Thanks for posting. 

.... am I the only one now wondering about the B-17 crewman KIA PH/AM set?  LOL This has become a thing recently - stuff found and assumed to be priceless to some soul from whom it was taken. We all had WWII stuff in our closets as kids. It was everywhere and often in the way. Good on you for trying but it's not nearly as much of a thing as one might assume. D  

Six hours. I decided the " look" was right. All loose, dusty rust dissolved. The surface were paint is not present still has that dark lightly rusted appearance. Next step: Put out in the direct, hot sun at least one day, maybe two, Make sure it is absolutely dry.   Final step will be to coat with Renaissance Wax while it is hot after sitting in the sun.   Note: according to references, these shells were painted a dark grey. This one is Black, ( denoting inert I believe), with remains of a white stripe. To my surprise, under the Black paint appears to be a dark grey color. My next challenge is to decode tge markings on tge driving band. Can anyone help? There is very little internet info on pre and WW1 Naval markings.    

Rooster, I find the NWU-I uniforms rather interesting, as with most utility types there are a few variations and of course a full selection of insignia.  The same can be said for the others in this series, NWU-II and the current NWU-III.  As for the Sea Bees insignia, for the five uniforms in my foto the pocket is an after production addition or exchange.  The pockets are sold from dealers such as Vanguard and sewn on by the sailor or local sew shop.  I do not currently have an OG-507, but I believe they were done the same, I can not speak to uniforms before that period.  As noted the Sea Bee is on the right side with this series due to the Navy crest now on the left.  In previous iterations it was on the left.  Also of note is all of my Bees are facing to the center of the coat, yours faces outward?  My guess is because your coat is 2008 (perhaps early production), the producer had not realized the pocket would be on the right.  My series coats are all 2010, BDU is 2007 last year made I think, and the DCU is about 1999 its very hard to read. Link for the Vanguard example:  https://www.vanguardmil.com/products/navy-embroidered-seabee-pocket-replacement-desert-digital  Cheers, Armygas 

Nice sterling WW2 DUI.  I wouldn’t repair it.  A repaired DUI will always look like a repaired DUI.  I’d prefer it all original, as-is. 

Can you show some pics? I have a few that are knee up. I mounted them on flanges with pipe to a base and they look fine if you don't need footwear. Actually, I have tucked flight suits, etc. into boots or even let trousers hang open over a base with shoes and it looks fine to me.  Dave  

I wish Owen or Bob would chime in here. I don't know the subject so I see misspelling and think "must be in-country real", then again, I think, "...what a great way to fake an item - intentionally misspell things..."  Dave 

This picture is a printing block from a WW1 MC Lilley catalog showing their button toggles. New to me. Thought I'd post it.  

Unlike us, many people just don't care about military items related to their family.  Way back when, I bought a KIA Purple Heart/AM pair from a lady at a garage sale who was the widow of the B17 KIA crewman.  No doubt she liked the fact that I would appreciate the medals, but she said she had no use for them (interesting footnote - she married the brother of the KIA crewman.   I guess he didn't care about his brother's medals either).  Anyway, I would guess many of the items I have in my collection came from family members of the vets who had no interest in them.  Which is kind of good people like that are out there, otherwise we wouldn't  have much in our collections.  When I find an old Army issue  canteen cover at the flea market with an old faded name stenciled on it, I do not feel it is my duty to go to the ends of the earth to reunite this long lost item with the family.   Most people just get rid of stuff they don't care about.   

T308   Thanks for that, that might be it,   Most out of the ordinary for a ADC to take over a Regiment by default like that, must of been real critical that he would be sent down to take immediate command, like intense enemy pressure with the men's morale flagging, things of that nature, normally its either the next senior who takes over, usually the Regimental Exec, or in some cases a senior ranking staff officer from division.