Oh My.. The Find of the Year!

[tarvin890]

opps, did he say if it had any metal jump wings with stars on them?

[davejb]

It is indeed a fantastic grouping and one that i doubt you will ever see again, your problem will be to ensure , that if you decide to sell it , it goes to a true collector and not someone who will later seperate the group, just for profit, and of course there is no absolute guarantee of this. My thinking is this and it may sound mercenary, but the veterans son was going to throw this lot out, therefore there cant be any sentimental value involved here, nor monetary consideration, he could have sold the entire group himself and made a very tidy sum , but instead he decided to just get rid of it, to me this shows a total disrespect for ones father, and i dont care how down and out i could become , or on the breadline , there is nothing on Gods earth that would induce me to throw out something that belonged to my father , no matter what the worth, especially uniforms that he wore and fought with and survived to tell the tale, My thinking is keep it, you will regret selling, donating or loaning it out for the rest of your days!!!!

[crites1234]

Bay state militaria has many similar sized groupings for sale. That is a good place to start for price comparison purposes if you must sell the grouping.

I've been trying to figure out how exactly to buy things off Bay State Militaria and i'm at a loss

[StefanM]

I have donated items from my collection to museums here in UK and in Poland knowing full well that the majority of a museums collection is not out on permanent display. There is nothing unusual about this, I have seen many a spare bedroom, front room or attic "museum" of collectors on this forum that include boxed-up artifacts and racks of carefully wrapped-up uniform jackets that are not on display in these little private home "museums"...mine included. However the satisfaction I have is in knowing that the items I donated were catalogued by the museums and are available to researchers and will be long after I am but dust.

In my experience National museums do not have "grab-all" acquisitions policies and are highly selective of what they acquire so that they don't get into the situation of having unwanted quantities of the same artifacts or those that don't fit the museums collection strategy therefore obviating the need for "garage" sales. For example the National WII Museum I mentioned has an acquisitions policy which currently excludes Nazi flags amongst other items.

My original point was that since the purchaser probably only paid a hundred bucks or less for a trunk of unknown contents that was going to be thrown out by the friend of a guy forced to live in a van who probably didn't have room to keep a large trunk and may not have appreciated the historical and commercial value of his father's trunk it would be a great service to donate it to a museum. Especially as other members here have pointed out the rarity of such an intact collection.

However the purchaser is of a mind to sell the trunk and its contents so I hope it raises a goodly amount and that the larger share of the "profits" go to the vet's son who has obviously fallen on tough times

[Scout]

A friend of mine was kind enough to furnish some info on the find.
I found it interesting, as I'm not that knowledgeable about US officers trunks, decorations and insignia.

John on other hand has forgotten more about these things, than I will ever know.

The below is his info copied from different emails. So sqattered info as a response to my random questions.
Any faults are mine, because of me only furnishing John with sparse info and simply copying the relevant passages here. I added a few words here and there.

Hope it makes sense. If not, its no fault of Johns.

A big thanks to John for taking the time to do the work, find all the links and post them to me.

Here is what the grouping has, he did not serve overseas.



Army Good Conduct Medal
Good Conduct Medal ~ Army
American Campaign Medal
American Campaign Medal
WWII Victory Medal
World War II Victory Medal



Honorable Discharge Emblem AKA the “Ruptured Duck.”
Honorable Service Lapel Button and Honorable Discharge Emblem



Infantry Officers Collar Insignia
U.S. Army Branches (Insignia and Plaques) > Infantry
Army Presidential Unit Citation
Army Presidential Unit Citation ~ Army
Expert Infantryman Badge
U.S. Army Badges > Expert Infantryman Badge
American Defense Service Medal
American Defense Service Medal
82nd Airborne Headquarters Distinctive Unit Insignia
82nd Airborne Division Distinctive Unit Insignia AIRBORNE



Technician Fifth Grade AKA “Tech Corporal Rank”
Technician Fifth Grade - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
7th Service Command Should Sleeve Insignia (SSI) AKA “Shoulder Patch”
TIOH - Heraldry - 7 Corps Area Service Command



The French Fourragere
French Fourragere Shoulder Cord
The Belgian Fourragere
Belgium Fourragere Shoulder Cord



Airborne Command Shoulder Sleeve Insignia
TIOH - Heraldry - Airborne Command
13th Airborne Division Shoulder Sleeve Insignia
13th Airborne Division (United States) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Antiaircraft Command Patch
Antiaircraft Command - U.S. Army Antiaircraft Artillery of World War II
82nd Airborne Division Shoulder Sleeve Insignia
TIOH - Heraldry - 82 Airborne Division
Enlisted Garrison Airborne Infantry Cap Insignia
Garrison Cap Insignia of Airborne Units



11th Airborne Division Headquarters Background Trimming AKA “Oval”
https://sites.google.com/site/seans1...e/Home/patches
My good friend’s site on “Ovals”: Notice Airborne Division Headquarters
Airborne Breast Oval (Background Trimming)
Second Army Patch
TIOH - Heraldry - 2 Army
Weapons Qualification Bars
U.S. Army Badges > Weapons Qualification

The caps

Seems there are several different caps from what John says:



Two Garrison/Overseas Caps look like they are white and black bullion which is a US Army Warrant Officer Cap. Also, one of the cap us USMC Green...

The Trunk:

As you can see the one he found is Officer Grade...
GI Intelligence Dept.


Antique Large Military Officers Steamer Wardrobe Trunk Vintage Chest Trunk | eBay






The WWII Steamer Trunk is an Officers Steamers Trunk. I mean enlisted can have them, but these are usually reserved for officers is issued. Some private purchase. I have one that was issued, but it was issued to a general officer.
The eBay Find | U.S. Navy WWII Steamer Trunk | A Continuous Lean. :: Development Version


I know he didn’t serve overseas with what was pictured. I am not sure that all belongs to one person as there are officer and enlisted items...
He never left the United States...her was here in the US for at least 12 months and one day to earn the American Campaign Medal.
The 11th Airborne Division was the only Airborne Unit to Occupy Japan and they fought in the Pacific
The 11th Airborne Division During WW II - Overview
The American Defense Medal was awarded to those who were in the US Military during the Attack on Pearl Harbor and the Star means they were on active duty...and Overseas to have earned the Star on the American Defense Ribbon. Also, he would (('have to?') added by Scout) have a “Combat Patch” on his left sleeve of any of his unfirms, indicating he was Overseas and earned it.

[NDShooter]

Thanks for the break down! And the work behind it.

On the note of how much I paid for it, I gave the guy 700 dollars because I just couldn't believe he was in a van... The average temps up here lately have been no higher then 10 degrees... or for those elsewhere in the world -12.2 celsius

[NDShooter]

I have to sell the group, so if anyone wants to purchase the whole lot they should contact me soon. Otherwise I will have to figure something out. I would really prefer not to part it out, but if it comes to that the forum will have first picks.

[Newbie]

What a great Find! I wish you all the luck! I am personally a German collector, but I really like this grouping! If I was in a better place financially I would buy this in a second! .... if it does come down to piecing this out, I would be interested in an Airborne T-shirt. ... keep us posted!

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Cody, I am very keen not to see this split up.

I am not a fan of museums as I know first hand how they work.

I have contacted a friend of mine, Ben, who is a very serious US Airborne collector in Holland and directed him to this thread. He is not yet a forum member. Hopefully he will join and might be interested in this grouping.

I know other US Airborne collectors who would be interested. Do not part it out, I just cannot stress this enough.

Cheers, Ade.

[geelong]

great find and saved it to.yea would be good if it were to stay all together would be hard to find anythink like this now. would like to here the outcome of where this lot ends up i hope it will go somewere where it will be presurved. or we all the members and non members on this forum could buy it and donate it to a good museum on behalf of the wrf. ha ha