U.S. Army Captain's Ike Jacket - tailored in Mannheim (Summer 1945)
Hi everyone,
Here is a jacket that belonged to one of my uncles (the gent on the left in my current avatar), and which I obtained at his wife's estate sale two decades ago. It was put away by its original owner about 50 years ago, and has been equally reclusive since I took custody.
When he was promoted to Captain, my uncle was stationed in Mannheim and decided to have a jacket custom made, and this jacket was the result. He came back to CONUS in 1946, and very shortly afterwards had a formal portrait taken with this very jacket to commemorate his return from "The War" (as it was invariably referred to in our family). The same metal collar and lapel devices, rank insignia and ribbon bar he wore in the photo still existed and I obtained those as well, along with the sterling silver ID bracelet that he wore at the time (electro-penned "Mannheim Germany July 1945" on the back).
The boullion on the left sleeve insignias has gone dark, particularly affecting the overseas bars sewn to the left sleeve. One of the intersting details is that the Seventh Army patch was custom made in boullion with all the extras, but the Third Army "combat patch" on the right shoulder is standard issue... I can only speculate that at the time, he anticipated possibly changing it for some other unit patch. All this is going back into the closet soon - where it can sit for another two decades - but I thought some photos of it might be of interest.
Best regards,
G. Kelly
ETA: The metal insignia are photographed on the same overseas cap that my uncle wore with this jacket. His military career ran from 1942 until his retirement from the Army Reserves nearly 30 years later; of all the uniforms he owned, this jacket was far-and-away his favorite.
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by Gunny Hartmann
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