This is a group of uniforms that I purchased off of ebay during a 4 month period of early 2004. All the name tags were removed and the only markings were his laundry marks C-4954. Due to the uniform(and the 1st issue jungle jacket) I believe that he was a WWII 101st vet that saw service up to early Vietnam. On the jungle jacket I thought I could make out the shadow left by the name tape & it looked like casler. I went through nara for casler's that had the same last 4 digits in the serial. I came up with Kenneth Casler who was born inlisted in 1943 and was born in 1925, so would have been young enough to serve up to Vietnam. I thought the uniform were unusual that the fatigues did not have a combat patch, or a cib, and the dress tans did not have any overseas stripes. I sent off to Nara, but never recieved anything, and forgot all about it. While messing around on the computer I managed to find his obituary from Oct, and these did infact belong to him because the seller I purchase them from is listed in the obit as his daughter. I have since resent to NARA, but here is what was listed in the obit. He graduated from para school in Nov 1943 and went overseas with the 501st. I assume he was in D-day, but it makes no mention of it. It says he served in the battle of the bulge, and Holland where he was a member of the indomitable patrol? taht was well written up in life magizine. They say he was awarded the BS with v/PH w oakleaf/ AC/GC with 5 loops/PUC/EAME w 4 stars & arrowhead/WWII V/AOM G/NDSM w star/orange laynard/belgian fourragere/french fourragere/CIB/Master Para badge W 2 stars. Post war he served with the 325th AIR, & the 505th AIR. He retired in 1968 as a Sgt Major. I am hoping to be able to get info from NARA so I can restore this uniform with period ribbons, laynards, & cib & para wings.

 

Heres his dress tans.

 

Here are his fatigues.

 

Heres the laundry mark.

 

Heres his 1st issue Jungle jacket. (has some dry rot)

 

 

 

I also have a custom made jungle hat that was made out of camo parachute silk, and a yard long photo dated june 6th 1950 and is labeled 101st & 82nd airborne D-Day veterans. I will post those later.

Heres his 1st issue Jungle jacket. (has some dry rot)

 

I also have a custom made jungle hat that was made out of camo parachute silk, and a yard long photo dated june 6th 1950 and is labeled 101st & 82nd airborne D-Day veterans. I will post those later.

Your man Casler was in B/501st and HQ/501st during WWII. He was wounded in Holland. I have not looked to see if he was part of the "Incredible Patrol" that was written about in Life mag that you reference. I don't believe that he was WWII Pathfinder trained with the 101st as he does not appear on any of the WWII 101st PF rosters.

 

Hope this helps,

Thanks for the info. He may have been trained as a pathfinder post-war since he served with the 325th & 505th. In his obituary it said he was part of the incredible patrol, but I am not sure. I am still waiting on info from Nara. I found it interesting that except for the dress tans he did'nt wear his 101st patch, and none of his fatigues ever had any cib's sewn on. When I recieve info from nara I will be sure to post it.

I recently purchased a nice WWII 101st SSI.The seller attributed it to Sgt. Cassler. This topic has been of tremendous interest and help. Any idea where I could locate the obituary you mentioned?

I found it interesting that except for the dress tans he did'nt wear his 101st patch, and none of his fatigues ever had any cib's sewn on. When I recieve info from nara I will be sure to post it.

I'm not sure if it was because of regulations or just done that way, but on most fatigues you see from he early to mid-60's with full color insignia, the combat patch and CIB were hardly ever worn. They usually just have jump wings if they were earned. It seems like the wearing of the full color combat patch and CIB on utilities really took off around 1966 or so. Again, I don't know if there was a change in regulations or what.

Hello,

I recently purchased a nice WWII 101st patch green back.The seller attributed it to Sgt. Casler.

 

The comment of the Salesman.

 

Here is the vet information for your 101st Greenback patch.

 

His name was Tech Sgt. Kenneth Casler

 

He graduated jump school in 1943.

 

He was part of B Co 501st PIR as well as HQ's Co of the 501st PIR 101st Airborne Division.

 

He was part of Operation Overlord and jumped on D-day into Normandy with the first wave.

 

He also jumped Operation Market Garden and took part in the Battle of the Bulge at Bastogne.

 

He was awarded the Bronze Star with V for Valor.

 

He was wounded in Holland during Operation Market Garden and was awarded the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster.

 

Serge :thumbsup:

Hello has you all,

Which would have the other imformations of the veteran Kenneth Casler, thank you.

Serge :think:

Hey Jim, Kenneth J. Casler here. Pretty sure those are my dad's uniforms. Would you consider returning them to me or at least sell them?? 

K J Casler 

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