Saw this uniform on eBay for $250. It seems to have belonged to a CPL harry katz. Looking the name up. It seems his obituary mentioned him with the 187th in Korea. It comes with a discharge paper and photo. I believe it’s legit but just want a second opinion. Thanks

There’s also an interview with him on YouTube. seems to also have survived the holocaust. it is in the interview Where he shows his uniform. looks exactly the same, but it’s missing a combat infantry badge. 

 

Is there a name in the jacket?

 

 

There are some questions and inconsistencies with the obituary and his story on YouTube. I am not doubting the fact he attended Airborne School which he did, graduating on July 25, 1952. The obituary states he made a combat jump with the 187th in Korea and earned a CIB but this would have been impossible since the two jumps made by the 187th were on 20 October 1950 at Suchon/Sukchon and the second jump was at Musan Ni in March of 1951. He mentions in the interview going to Korea but not when. He also mentions that he had a panel from a parachute that was issued when "They were supposed to make a combat jump", but he never indicated making a combat jump.

 

It does appear to be his uniform and the photos of him in the tent that he shared with the medic makes sense, but I would like to see a close up of his DD214 to see his decorations authorized.

 

Interesting....

 

Leigh 

 

 

 

 

I’d like to see the DD214 as well.

 

Take it out of its sleeve too 

On 2/8/2025 at 12:01 PM, Rakkasan187 said:

There are some questions and inconsistencies with the obituary and his story on YouTube. I am not doubting the fact he attended Airborne School which he did, graduating on July 25, 1952. The obituary states he made a combat jump with the 187th in Korea and earned a CIB but this would have been impossible since the two jumps made by the 187th were on 20 October 1950 at Suchon/Sukchon and the second jump was at Musan Ni in March of 1951. He mentions in the interview going to Korea but not when. He also mentions that he had a panel from a parachute that was issued when "They were supposed to make a combat jump", but he never indicated making a combat jump.

 

It does appear to be his uniform and the photos of him in the tent that he shared with the medic makes sense, but I would like to see a close up of his DD214 to see his decorations authorized.

 

Interesting....

 

Leigh 

 

 

 

 

Hi. Sorry for the late response. I also noticed the inconsistencies with the story. I didn’t buy it. Just too many inconsistencies for me to drop $250 on the uniform. I also noticed the airborne graduation mentioning July 1952 and it was immediately confused. The photos I used for this post were not as good quality as the actual pictures on the listing I believe. 

I sold this grouping to the individual who is currently selling it on eBay. Everything in the grouping is what I originally sold except the parachute camouflage sash is missing. From the DD-214 and information online he never participated in any combat jumps. Here is a photo of the original DD-214.

 

 

I can't tell on the DD214, but Katz's MOS looks like he may have been a personnel administrative specialist (MOS Code # 4816) (ref. Item 5) in section 38. His foreign service looks to be 1 yr 11 months 7 days... Not sure where the CIB connection is, too bad he did not go more into detail in the interview about his job and his time with the 187th... In either Korea or possibly in Japan too as the 187th rotated to Japan a few times during the war....

 

It's not uncommon for non-infantry personnel to obtain a CIB, Chaplain Holland O. Hope who was the 187th Chaplain was awarded the CIB for his actions in leading a rescue operation for a cut off unit of the 187th, so Katz may have had a specific circumstance that permitted him the award of the CIB....

 

But there is also the lingering question since Katz was possibly an administrative specialist, could he have typed his own DD214 at discharge?? By no means am I discrediting his service....it is just a theory...

 

I have seen an instance of an Administrative Specialist in WW2 award himself the Distinguished Service Cross as well as claim he was a founding member of Darby's Rangers as well as a whole bunch of other accolades and awards which was ultimately his downfall when he applied for Warrant Officer School in the 60's and was declined admission due to lack of evidence of his DSC, being a member of  Darby's Rangers and other awards he claimed to have earned. His complete estate of uniforms, medals, documents are currently located at Ft Bliss at the museum. He retired but not before the stories of his accomplishments spread throughout the Army....and his accounts are still being investigated today...

 

I am presuming that the engineer collar brass and his admin specialist MOS was when he may have been assigned to the 6th Armored Div. @ Ft Leonard Wood prior to his discharge. It looks like he was assigned to the 506th Replacement Company (Permanent Party) 6th AD...   

 

Too bad the CIB and parachute scarf are missing and there was not more information about how he earned the CIB. If there was more detailed information in Katz interview it may have been something interesting to have...

 

Just my thoughts...

 

Leigh