All good, brother.  Our humanity is what makes us interesting.     Be well.

Sorry for your lost collectible.   I can relate.   I've been relatively satisfied with USPS service after 50 years of sending and receiving things, with the caveat that I go with UPS when sending or receiving irreplaceable, easily breakable things  after a few hard and disappointing knocks, literally.   Until last year when a small five pound package containing hard to find clock weights mailed from a suburban Memphis USPS postal counter in a larger building,  never made it to the scanner at the gargantuan USPS Memphis hub.  I've since talked with others and Memphis is the Bermuda Triangle for lost packages.  A fellow clock collector and dealer told me of a Navy Chelsea he bought from the Memphis area around the same time that similarly disappeared without a trace.   My policy is no more purchases from Tennessee  unless the shipper will use FedEx or UPS, and not give the Black Hole of Memphis (apologies to Calcutta) another chance to dump, steal, etc, another package from me.     That said,  good luck with any insurance claim, probably a lost cause in the bureaucratic jungle.    Most people are not aware of this, but as a  frustration reliever, you could file a complaint with the US Postal Inspector Service, their IAD among other things.     https://www.uspis.gov/

Whether or not the soldiers depicted in the photograph are US Army or USMC will need to be determined by someone more qualified than I to determine.  There are experts here on the forum that should be able to answer that.  Of course the photo is definitely not Wake Island as mentioned above.  The location is a puzzlement for sure.  I'm curious to know why you're so interested in finding out about this particular photograph.  You don't have to let us know but it's just something I've wondered about.  Fact is, we may never know exactly where this location is but we'll see.  Good luck!   

I had already reacted on this topic in a supportive way towards the guy who had his helmet stolen. I just reacted again because i can't stand that people react so rudely to things like this. And btw my bad about saying he shoukd have clicked off. He should have just been a bit kinder and not so rude. Have a great weekend tho! -BC  Edit: his reaction got taken down or he deleted it so i guess my reaction was valid for some parts, excluding saying "that is worth a lot of money" and "you cpuld have clicked off the post" that was my bad, I was just irritated.

Hi, I'm asking for information on Private Michael J. Krufyowsji, serial number 7574035. I would like to know if he has returned home. I have his backpack with battle damage and blood.

That depends on time and place. I enlisted before the uniform change that adopted the CPO uniforms for all hands. Commonly referred to as the “Zumwalt Uniforms”. I loved the jumper uniforms, especially the undress blues. Comfortable and easy to wear. When we were forced to get the new stuff, I fully resented it. The black shirt began life as a stop gap. It was never intended to exist. We were supposed to have 2 sets of blues. One winter weight and one tropical weight. That was the plan, less uniforms. Ok, didn’t work. So they authorized short sleeved white shirts to be worn with the summer weight coat, then decided to allow just wearing the white shirt with black trousers, ( Salt and Peppers). Officers did not want to give up the choker whites, so to try and get some uniformity, they re introduced white trousers for enlisted.   As for the black shirt. First thing the Navy ran into, was an inability to contract enough coats of either weight, to outfit everyone. As a stop gap, they procured the black shirts, the first ones were a Melton wool. Heavy and scratchy. They issued these to recruits, with the promise of a check to get the coats. ( yes, we have to buy this stuff when they make uniform changes). When they got the checks, like good Sailors,  they spent them on beer, cigarettes and Pole Dancers. The rest was tossed away foolishly. By that time, the fleet was getting their hands on good quality shirts from “Patriot”, “Flying Cross”,, those guys. The coat, faded into the realm of “Dress Up”, inspections and such. The shirt got ribbons and tie and was the new “Dress Uniform”. You could take the tie off and just wear ribbons for office work, and remove both for Shore Patrol. I was a ship board Sailor. I rarely ever wore it. Some shore side schools, or SP. other than that, it just filled up my locker and sucked away at my paycheck every time they dreamed up some new item we had to have but rarely wore. After 8 years of this madness and guys complaining about how much useless crap they had to have, the Navy sobered up, saw what they had done and tried to fix it. They gave us our dungarees back, which had never really gone away, jumper dress blues and jumper whites. They also decreed that the Summer White and Winter Blue uniforms would remain. (Short sleeve white shirt with front crease white trousers and Black shirt with front crease black trousers. And, those were to be worn with the white hat!  Stupid looking to say the least. Never wore either again, until I made Chief that’s my story.

Greetings, friend - Just a quick comment to try to follow logic here.    You had the same opportunity to "click off the post" that Blitz67 did but saw something that made you feel a certain way and commented.   So, other users should not comment when they have a reaction, but you can?   Again, I am neither attacking nor defending (including content / style); I am just seeking to understand.   We have members here whose job it is to moderate the forum, unironically called "Moderators".  If something strays beyond the pale of forum mores, folkways, or rules, they'll address.    Cheers, and have a great weekend.         Edit: It is a real bummer to have something stolen, no doubt.  I would say insurance is wise, but I'm not sure what goes into making a claim / proving the value of something collectible like this.        

Thats very mean dude, if you dont like it then click off the post😡. He clearly stated that they abruptly hung up on him when he called them. That helmet is worth a lot of money so it id readonable that he reacts like that. Maybe you should reconsider your life and not be so rude to people... 

. Some of the D-Day events this year.             Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, 15 May  2O26.   ..