ID'd North Africa Ike Jacket Grouping

[Luftwaffe 1941]

I was doing some eBay hunting the other day when I found a pretty cool Ike jacket. It was a jacket patched to the U.S. North African theater of operations. What caught my attention about it 'other then the shoulder patch' was the beautiful hand sewn ribbon bar attached above the left breast pocket. I'm not 100% certain, but I believe it was made in theater. The five overseas service bars sewn above the left cuff appear to be theater made as well. Included with the jacket was a khaki garrison cap. The seller made no mention of this grouping being identified to a specific veteran, but both the jacket and cap had markings I was able to research. The garrison cap is marked twice with the faded name 'Mayfield'. On the jacket there's a faded laundry number of 'M7119' and the name Mayfield is written once again.

A quick search on the national archives database revealed the veteran's basic enlistment information. His name was 'Fred Mayfield' and his ASN is 20617119. After finding this info I decided to pull the trigger on purchasing this small grouping. I highly doubted the seller had any other bits for sale that were connected to this vet, but I decided to check out his other listings just to be safe. I'm really glad that I did! I ended up finding a sizeable group of documents and paper items all tied to Mr Mayfield. It consisted of letters, telegrams, and even a small guidebook to U.S. military insignia/awards. Without question I quickly bought the group of paper items.

I have to say, I'm a bit confused as to why the seller didn't sell everything bundled together. He could have easily sold it all for much more AND guarantee the history stays together. Neither listing contained any mention that they were part of a bigger grouping. I guess this just proves that you can never be too thorough. If you buy an item, always look through the other listings the seller has up. You just might find items connected to the piece you bought!

Various paper items actually include the the vet's unit info. To my eyes it looks like 'H+S. Co. 338th Engineer'. If someone could tell me more about this unit, I would greatly appreciate it

Ike Jacket

Garrison Cap

Documents

[MAP]

Fantastic aquisition Jarret.

Good job with the spidey senses and keeping it all together.

Love the V-Mail letter

[TWS]

Great score! Love groupings with information on the soldier like this.

[Luftwaffe 1941]

Thanks guys!

It always puts a smile on my face when I'm able to keep history together like this. Too many groupings have been split up over the years. It's usually done to make more cash, but in this case I think the seller simply didn't know the two groupings were related.

I actually have another Ike grouping that I picked up just days ago. I'm going to post it tomorrow, and it's by far one of my favorites

[BlackCat1982]

Wiki Entry:

During World War II, the 338th Engineer General Service Regiment rebuilt the vital port of Livorno (Leghorn), in Northern Italy, in advance of the Fifth United States Army's assault on the German positions in the Po Valley.

The 338th was activated 4 September 1942 at Camp Atterbury, Indiana, and moved to Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, on 15 November 1942.

The regiment departed New York on 28 April 1943 (likely on the SS Santa Rosa) and arrived at Oran, Algeria, on 12 May 1943.

The 338th landed in Italy on 8 February 1944.

Livorno, 300 miles north of Naples on the western coast of Italy, was needed as a supply base for the North Apennines campaign, but the port was the most thoroughly demolished one in the Mediterranean. The Germans had erected barricades, blown bridges, laid mines, and sunk twenty ships to completely seal off the harbor entrances. The Allies also contributed to the destruction; in some 50 raids during the first half of 1944, they dropped more than 1,000 tons of bombs.

Elements of the 34th Infantry Division (United States) captured Livorno on 19 July 1944. The 338th, which had been working on hospitals in Rome, had no experience in port repair, but drew the assignment anyway. Twelve men from the 338th Engineers arrived in the city a few hours later to clear mines from predetermined routes into the port area. Leghorn was heavily mined, and for the first few days little other than mine clearing could be accomplished. As the mine-clearing teams made room, more elements of the 338th arrived, set up quarters, and began preparing a berth for the LST and the LCT carrying construction equipment.

By 26 July, both craft had unloaded. In the meantime, engineers repaired electrical lines and started to restore the municipal water system.

The primary task for the 338th engineers was to reconstruct berths for ships. The 338th received planning aid from several specialists of the 1051st Engineer Port and Repair Group, representatives of the British Navy charged with clearing the waters of Leghorn harbor, and shipowners and contractors who knew the port. Within a month, berths for six Liberty ships had been completed giving Leghorn a capacity of 5,000 tons per day. The goal of 12,000 tons per day was reached by the end of September, as projected.

As the berths were completed, the 338th turned its attention to rebuilding roads, bridges, hospitals, depots, and camps. Every task required extensive minesweeping. Working together with Italian soldiers and civilians, the engineers were able to amass and distribute the large volume of supplies required.

Assured of a strong supply base in the rear, Fifth Army moved rapidly forward into the Po River valley.

For its accomplishments, the 338th was awarded the Meritorious Service Unit Plaque per General Orders No. 66, Headquarters, Peninsular Base Section, 24 February 1945. The citation was as follows:

"The 338th Engineer General Service Regiment, Peninsular Base Section, for superior performance of duty in the accomplishment of an exceptionally difficult mission in Italy from 17 July 1944 to 30 September 1944. This regiment entered the Port of Leghorn under artillery fire and through extensive mine fields, moved equipment over bombed out roads and bridges, cleared streets and dock areas that were completely blocked by debris from demolished buildings and other structures; removed thousands of enemy mines, built new roads and bridges, repaired utilities, and planned and constructed berthing and unloading facilities in one of the most completely destroyed ports as yet encountered in Italy. The 338th Engineer General Service Regiment by careful planning and proper organi- zation, vigorous prosecution of the work over long hours and exceptional ingenuity and engineering skill placed the Port of Leghorn in operating conditions within six (6) weeks after its capture. The accomplishments of the 338th Engineer General Service Regiment during this period are in the highest traditions of the military service".

The 338th returned to the U.S. at Boston on the Liberty Ship SS Zebulon Pike 8 November 1945 after 2 years, 6 months, and 10 days overseas.

The 338th was inactivated at Camp Myles Standish, Mass., on 9 November 1945.

[Luftwaffe 1941]

Thank you so much for taking the time to share that Wiki entry BlackCat!

It seems the 338th accomplished quite a bit during the war. When I saw the Meritorious unit citation patch on the sleeve of the jacket, I was really curious to know why it was awarded. This answers my question perfectly!

[Rakkasan187]

Jarret

Great uniform and information, It is sad to see groupings split up like this but many sellers would rather break items up for more money than to keep it intact. If this were part of a very large grouping the seller may lose money in shipping and handling fees so it is much easier to break items apart and sell them off individually.

It does pay off to look at other sales that sellers have to offer and put the pieces of the puzzle back together.

It can get expensive, especially with medal groupings and high profile groupings where large sums of money can be had.

At least you were able to get these items back together

Best regards, stay safe

Smitty

[Anderson]

Very interesting grouping Jarret. I'm glad you managed to keep some of it together.