In addition to the Test Team patch that I posted in post #40, I acquired one of the Flight Test pin badges from the nephew of a Fairchild employee. I also splashed out on the pin badge that was on sale over on Ebay. These will make a fine display together.  

Yeah, I hope, that they do eventually come my way ;) But you got really lucky!

It came from the family of a Fairchild employee. I'll be photo dumping a whole bunch of stuff in the coming days.

I don’t like the buttons nor the lapels 

I picked this book up some time ago that has some signatures of Eagle Squadron members in it.  In this case, a member from each of the three fighter units signed their name.   The Eagle Squadrons were three fighter units (Nos. 71, 121, and 133) within the British Royal Air Force (RAF) in World War II comprised entirely of American volunteer pilots who flew before the US officially entered the war. Serving from 1940 to 1942, they specialized in combat against the Luftwaffe in European skies before being transferred into the US Army Air Forces (USAAF).      

Thank you, that is truly amazing.    a very unexpected surprise.

Here's a grouping I picked up at one of the Heartland Militaria Shows / Sales when it was held in Chickasha, OK.  It's now held at the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds.                                             Ancestry - Ector Dalton Lively .pdf CPL Ector D Lively_21 NARA Morning Reports.pdf

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