Another FJ Trop Tunic.....there's never too much of them!

[Canuck63]

Hi all,
I’d like to share with you this tunic belonged to a senior FJ NCO who fought in Holland,France,Africa, Italy and way back to Germany where it was wounded.
I got it straight from the Vet sons.Traces of the thread the EK ribbon was sewn in with can still be clearly seen.The Vet’s daughter told me that the late father removed and hid the ribbon when he and his comrades were about to be taken prisoners by the Polish near the town of Cassino but they escaped at the very last moment.He removed that because a fallen FJ (a close friend) gave it to him and he feared it could have represented a nice "souvenir" for his captors and (in her words) he’d have never removed that had him reached the rank of General…at the cost of going against all regulations .The lady and his brother were happy to give the tunic to me as a present but his brother, a well known artist,kept the ribbon,the shoulder boards (the blue buttons are original to the tunic though!), medals,pictures and papers which now are framed and proudly displayed in his studio!!!
I’ve put on the tunic a salty pair of shoulder boards for display (I chose the ones that more closely resembled the originals for conditions and rank) but I’ll never,ever replace the ribbon for obvious reasons but mostly out of respect for the Vet and his fallen brother!
Unfortunately I have no pictures to photoshop this tunic as our friend has done,and to be perfectly honest I must admit that I’d never be able to do that, but I nevertheless hope you’ll enjoy it!
Cheers
Manny

[Bochmann]

As ever, nice tunic in equally nice condition.

[Jerry B]

Hi,
Has the collar been replaced?

Thanks,

Jerry

[Canuck63]

Hi,
Has the collar been replaced?

Thanks,

Jerry

Certainly not !
Cheers
Manny

[Jerry B]

Certainly not !
Cheers
Manny

Hi Manny,

I just wondered if it had, because I have never noticed one having such different thread/stitching on the collar when compared with the rest of the tunic. I meant as a period repair/replacement, not as post war done.

Thanks Manny for your reply.

Jerry

[Canuck63]

Hi Manny,

I just wondered if it had, because I have never noticed one having such different thread/stitching on the collar when compared with the rest of the tunic. I meant as a period repair/replacement, not as post war done.

Thanks Manny for your reply.

Jerry

You're welcome Jerry....the stitching's ABSOLUTELY the same as found on other parts of the tunic as is the thread!The multi-piece construction is very common though!
If you've ever had the chance to see in period pictures how the uniforms were made you'd know that the "assembly" wasn't a one-man job....the tunic,or trousers for that matters,passed from a table to another.
The thread's the same but the stitching being spaced in a different way isn't an issue.On the other hand my threads are the only ones I've seen so far on any forum I've visited,joined or expelled from with ultra-detailed close-ups.I've got several brown,HBT blue and HBT green LW combat tunics and they're almost identical as far as certain details are concerned,including the ones I've shown here.If you could see the tunic in the flesh you'd see what I mean
Cheers
Manny