July 14Jul 14 #1576 29 minutes ago, vforvictory1945 said: Chris that Manila Ship Salvage Diver's buckle is amazing. Would you be willing to share a picture of that one alone? Thanks, Ryan Sure here are a few pics. Notice the mis-spelled “Shlvage” I think this diver was part of the failed recovery of the sunken “Hell Boat” in the Philippines in 1946. Many missing US Veterans are now being recovered there. Chris
July 15Jul 15 #1577 On 7/14/2026 at 12:21 PM, hink441 said: Sure here are a few pics. Notice the mis-spelled “Shlvage” I think this diver was part of the failed recovery of the sunken “Hell Boat” in the Philippines in 1946. Many missing US Veterans are now being recovered there. Chris The survey and examination of the 'Hell Ships' sunk in Philippine waters was not conducted until the Korean War period. I have a full set of the original confidential report and photographs of the first Oryoku Maru hellship surveys off of the east coast of Luzon Island by the USS GRASP (ARS-24). One fine day I'll scan them and post the report. It is more likely that this is the clearance of hulks and navigational hazards in Manila Bay by the Ship Salvage Group, Seventh Fleet. This was also when the (second) recovery of the Philippine treasury silver deliberately dumped into Manila Bay was conducted by Navy divers working off of Net Tenders (AN). I knew a man assigned to this task in 1945-1946. Very nice PI buckle and a 'keeper' in any collection. SALVAGE DUTIES: In October & November 1944 USS SILVERBELL AN-51, while at San Pedro Bay in the Philippines, did a lot of repair work on battle damaged LSM's, LST's and LCI's. George Burkett, a Motor Machinist and Ships Diver, said he had no idea how many props they changed on these landing craft. They did this until enough repair ships arrived to take over. In the fall of 1945 USS ELDER AN-20 made a sounding survey of the North Channel between Corregidor and Bataan and in September began plotting the position of known wrecks in Manila Harbor. In 1945 USS SILVERBELL AN-51 went to Corregidor and retrieved gold and silver that the Philippine Government had sunk before the Japanese took over. USS Teak (AN-35) clearing wrecks in Manila Bay, Philippine Islands during March and April 1945. Series by Carl Mydans, Life Magazine, used for educational and non-commercial purposes. -->> Japanese Treasure Hunt in Manila Bay By Commander W. L. Marshall, USN March 1958 Proceedings Vol. 84/3/661 Excerpt 'In early March, 1945, the Ship Salvage, Fire Fighting, and Rescue Group of the Seventh Fleet arrived in Manila to commence clearing the wrecks and debris from the berths and piers in Manila Harbor. Although the location of the silver pesos was known, the urgent necessity of clearing the harbor to permit the flow of supplies to the Allied Ground Forces precluded any attempts at silver recovery. However, in late May, several Filipinos were arrested for secretly attempting to dive for the treasure and the story broke in the local papers. Accordingly, recovery operations were ordered at once.' Full story on the link above, including the forced operations of USN Divers held as POW's after the capitulation of Corregidor. Chris, this is one of the premiere 1946 Philippine made belt buckles on this entire topic. One of the best I've ever seen.
July 15Jul 15 #1578 Thank you SS! That is some great detailed information you have provided. I’ll have to take a deeper dive into the information (pun intended). 😁 I recently watched a show on the Discovery Channel which covered the removal of US remains off of a sunken “Hell Boat” in the PI. That’s where it sparked my interest. I believe it was an “Exploration Unknown” show and they stated there was a failed attempt to recover the remains around 1946-47 that resulted in some type of a collapse and explosion of some sorts. I believe Josh Gates hosted the show. Chris
July 15Jul 15 #1579 @hink441 - That Diver's buckle has to be up there in the top five or so PI buckles I've seen to date. It's got it all, great subject matter, only the second WWII era diver's helmet design I've seen, expert engraving and near perfect symmetry of design. Thank you very much for sharing detailed pictures of this beauty!
July 15Jul 15 #1580 Following up on my organization post of #1571. All cataloged, re-bagged, “somewhat” organized and put in the drawer. One step closer to reigning in the chaos I’ve created. 😄
July 15Jul 15 #1581 1 hour ago, easterneagle87 said: Following up on my organization post of #1571. All cataloged, re-bagged, “somewhat” organized and put in the drawer. One step closer to reigning in the chaos I’ve created. 😄 @easterneagle87 - So now there's four more drawers to fill up? :) Nice collection!
July 19Jul 19 Author #1582 Here's an undated Philippine Buckle that looks like it was engraved in China with dragons and USN. The seller described it as being from the 1930s but I think 1945-1949 is probably more likely.
July 19Jul 19 Author #1583 Here is a non-Philippine buckle but it looks like a Japanese Engraver on Okinawa was copying the style of Philippine engravers. My guess is a 1980s souvenir for a Marine.
Monday at 08:18 AM5 days #1584 Nice buckle above. Went on a tangent when I saw a new posting in the topic: Uniforms of the 'Blue Water' Navy 1960's-1980's Cold War - Vietnam Era and saw these photos attributed by forum member sigsaye. Sure appear to be Philipp made buckles to me. I only went down a few pages, but it is amazing what you will see when you start looking ... or paying attention to the details, no matter how obscure they are. I just wish we could tell what the buckles actually said. Fist photo: guy on far right. Second photo: guy on left.
Monday at 12:08 PM5 days Author #1585 In the top picture of 4 guys. The guy in the far right definitely looks like he's wearing a Philippine buckle. The other 3 guys look like they have regular buckles. In the second picture. The Vietnam Vet on the left looks like he has a Zippo belt buckle on if I were to take a guess (looks like the ship's crest on the left side of the buckle and his ship on the right side). Cool picture either way. Looks a little like it might be in Hong Kong.
Tuesday at 05:12 PM4 days #1586 A Pair of buckles that recently sold on the 'bay. Possible Father and son set?
Wednesday at 04:29 AM4 days #1588 This one has been on the 'bay for quite some time, but I didn't find it in any of the postings on this topic. Maybe sitting at $96 is a big turn off... shocking. Naval Aviation Flight Surgeon wings. These have been carved into a plate and mounted onto a standard buckle.
Wednesday at 04:45 AM4 days #1590 Meant to post this one with the other "named" buckles on #1587, TONY
14 hours ago14 hr #1593 Trying to get some traction over here. I'm doing this post to see if it will migrate over to "My Activity Streams > Content I Posted In" , I've posted in this topic before (quite a lot and after the upgrade) and it's not showing up over there. Aviation Boatswain Mate, USS GARY , FFG-51, currently up on the 'bay.
12 hours ago12 hr #1594 10 hours ago, easterneagle87 said:Oooooh ... that went CHEAP!! Good score by buyer.Similar "funky font" as post #1555?
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