His PH orders (NARA)   I could not locate the 378th IR orders for his CIB.   In case you were not aware, based on his Hospital Card (with incorrect discharge date of Sep 44-should be Sep 45 as per other docs above), he was given a Sec. II, AR 615-360 Certificate of Disability for Discharge (CDD). As the 15 Dec 44 MR notes, his wounds were serious and likely resulted in him being returned to the USA (before the end of the war in the ETO) for long-term treatment, possibly via England. The 40 percent disability pension mentioned in the newspaper article above hint at the severity of his wounds.

I was always surprised about how much wastage there was in small arms ammunition . My early 70's and 80's visits to the Ardennes would turn up areas where you walked on a carpet of ammunition, hundreds and hundreds of rounds in any one spot. At that stage even the German steel cased ammo was in very good condition with large finds of 7.92 kurz ammo for the MP44 always the highlight of any new discovery. Last time I did any wood walking in the Ardennes even the brass cased 30-06 was corroded around the neck of the cartridge and the days of finding much are long gone. The metal detector age put paid to that, before then it was just a case of using Detector Eyeball Mk1 as so much was just scattered on the ground. Back then even larger stuff was just lying around on the surface

Hi Guys,   I have a Vietnam era M-65 i bought around 20 Years ago. Never wore it, as when it arrived i was shocked by the condition and suspected it maybe NOS. So i put it on a Hangar and bought another one for everyday use. Anyway i got it out the cupboard the other day and was looking at it and thought i'd try to do some research on it. Seems like it may be quite rare? Condition including color is incredible for a 58 Year old jacket. The hood is still down flat inside. It also has V-Cuffs. Lining is a bluish/grey and there is a small stamp on the lining bottom left hand corner -20-. It's very visable to the naked eye but didn't take the greatest pic so i didn't upload it. The Scovill Zippers are like they went on yesterday. Right hand pocket liner has a bit of a stain from something and a couple of other minor marks. Don't believe it's ever been laundered the color is too good. Anyway would be helpful to know it's value, i think its quite a collectable one.   Thanks in advance.   Cheers

Thank you Matt, appreciate you.

Thanks! Always great to find a name and story to these bars. Here is the link for his DFC and three LOM citations:   https://valor.militarytimes.com/recipient/recipient-390096/   The photo appears to show a smaller bullion wings so may have come from a different uniform than the portrait, still a complete match.

SOURCE:  Ancestry.com             Ancestry - Robert Donnelley Bergstrom .pdf Birth Cert - Robert Donnelley Bertstrom.pdf

SOURCE:  Newspapers.com          

Thanks much titanfan!

378th inf regiment. Looks like he was WIA in Dec 44 in Germany.

Indeed!  I'll second that.  Great job Jtski!