Dear hc8604,

You are right the dagger is Nationalist Chinese. I also doubt that a Chinese Communist would have carried it in 1950. I should have included a dagger without Nationalist markings. The sword however dates from about 1900 and is a cavalry saber with a heavy blade. Almost all of the Chinese dress swords that I have seen have blades the thickness of tissue paper. Good catch!

Dick

Hi As I understand it records have to be 62 years old to be fully archival offical military personnel file (OMPF) I have some Korean war groupings that I would like to get records for but all I can get is whats releasable with the (foid) freedom of information act which isn't much. Good luck in your search you sure have an amazing group there. Mark

You can get records less than 62 years old, it just takes much longer because they have to dig through more stuff to get it. If a record is 62 or older it can be ready in about 2 hours, assuming you're waiting in the lobby for it.

That Mauser is great!

I bought a copy of the "Seventh Infantry Division History" by the 7th Infantry Division Association. The book has pictures and biography's of about 500 Veteran's of the 7th. There are hundreds of photographs from WWII and Korea plus a list of almost two thousand men who served in the 7th Infantry Division. I found a write up of Lt. Col Dill his history, and his being recommended for the Bronze Star by Col. "Chesty" Puller.

Dick

I love the patina the thompson has on it. Wow!

Since this is the Anniversary of the retreat from the Yalu I thought you might like to read the article written by James H. Dill about the retreat from the Yalu. Lt. Col. Dill was a survivor of that retreat and wrote an article for American Heritage Magazine "Winter of the Yalu" about the ordeal.

Dick

I thought I would bring this back since the top banner is "The Chosin Reservoir Campaign."

you are to be congratulated for the restoration and saving of the thompson. a very nice part of history.

I would like to bring this back on the anniversary of Army First Lt. James H. Dill being written up for and awarded the Bronze Star Medal by Colonel Lewis “Chesty” Puller First Marine Regiment for his actions on September 25, 1950 during the recapture of Seoul.

I would like to bring this back on the anniversary of Army First Lt. James H. Dill being written up for and awarded the Bronze Star Medal by Colonel Lewis “Chesty” Puller First Marine Regiment for his actions on September 25, 1950 during the recapture of Seoul. I tried to bring it back on the 25th of September but it wouldn't post. I am trying again.

Dick

Dick, Great work on the Thompson and bringing Dill's items back together.

 

Matt.

I thought I would bring this back since it has been 65 years since these events occurred.

Dick

Awesome! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for bringing this one back up, Dick. Dill is an incredible soldier. I recently reread his book again...it's one of my favorites. He has a great perspective on the country and people of Korea. A really respectable officer. I am glad that you still have this group and still enjoy it. Dill seems like the sort of man they could write a movie about.

 

For those interested in what Dick has here, please take a look at the page I have created for Dill's uniform that I have in the collection. It's much of the same info, just expanded a bit with quotes from the book.

http://captainofthe7th.wix.com/rcmcollection#!dill/c1q0v

 

Sadly, I do not think that an actual citation exists for Dill's Bronze Star. The best I found is included on the website there. I believe it was awarded by HQ 7th Div, but Chesty Puller is the one who recommended and probably 'strongly encouraged' the Army to award him the medal. I also wrote to NPRC a couple of times pushing for more records on Dill, but it seems we both received the same information. I had to pay a researcher to pull the GOs for his Bronze Star from the College Park archives. I think I sent you this in a PDF, Dick.

 

Rob