ADSEC Uniform Grouping

**Luftwaffe 1941** · 10-27-2021, 07:47 PM

I thought I would share a pretty cool uniform grouping that I picked up awhile back. A friend of mine who's thinning out his collection offered this to me, and once I saw it I knew I had to try and get it.

All of the items in this grouping belonged to 'John R. Purdy' of Ohio. His ASN is 35460561. I was told all of these items were found at the estate sale of the veteran's son in 2017. It appears John's son was also a veteran, as there was evidence at the sale that he served in the Vietnam war. According to my friend who sold me this group, almost every bit of militaria that was found at the estate was sold in separate auctions. So he fought to win every auction in order to keep the history together. In addition to the WWII era items, my friend also bought the Vietnam era stuff that belonged to the vets son. He offered me the Vietnam era items, but I declined them and only bought the WWII era items. The Vietnam era stuff mostly consisted of military academy dress uniforms.

The grouping I ended up with consists of an Ike jacket, German cloth paratrooper badge, a large caliber bullet converted into a lighter, and a small array of patches and pins.

When I first received the Ike jacket it only had three patches attached to it. The ADSEC shoulder patch, the ADSEC rocker, and the overseas service bars. By looking at the jacket it was obvious that it had quite a few patches that were removed. The outlines where the patches were once sewn were very obvious, and thankfully this grouping included all of the removed patches. I was told by the original buyer that all of the loose patches were bought buy him in a separate auction at the estate. So it's my assumption that the auctioneers cut off some of the patches from the jacket so they could make more money by selling them separately. The patches looked to be recently removed when I got the grouping, so I think this was the case.

Thankfully my girlfriend's mother is a really skilled seamstress, and she was kind enough to sew back all of the patches to their original positions. She even used a U.S. WWII sewing kit that I had on hand, so the jacket was restored using period correct thread. I have to say I'm EXTREMLY happy with the job she did.

**Luftwaffe 1941** · 10-27-2021, 07:52 PM

I almost forgot to mention this. The grouping also included a pair of pants and a shirt. The shirt is completely blank, but it does show evidence of once having rank chevrons sewn on it.

Sadly none of the clothing items contain the vet's name or laundry number. So I'm purely going off the information my friend obtained while at the estate sale. The pants have multiple numbers stamped on them, but none match to this vet. I'm sure they were reissued multiple times.

**BrodieBartfast** · 10-27-2021, 08:08 PM

Excellent finds, Jarret, and your girlfriend’s mother is to be congratulated too. An unscrupulous attempt by the auctioneers to make more money reversed by dedication to history. As they lack laundry numbers or names, it might be a good idea to catalogue these items or earmark them in some way, to ensure they’re never separated again.

B.B.

**Luftwaffe 1941** · 10-27-2021, 08:44 PM

by BrodieBartfast

Excellent finds, Jarret, and your girlfriend’s mother is to be congratulated too. An unscrupulous attempt by the auctioneers to make more money reversed by dedication to history. As they lack laundry numbers or names, it might be a good idea to catalogue these items or earmark them in some way, to ensure they’re never separated again.

B.B.

Thanks Brodie! My girlfriend's mother is skilled to say the least. She studied fashion design for a number of years, and even made my girlfriends high school prom dress completely from scratch. When I asked her if she could sew back these patches for me, she saw it as a really simple task.

Whenever I get a set of items that all belonged to one veteran, I always make sure to document them thoroughly. I'll make a write up describing how the items were originally found and any history that is known behind them. I then neatly sort the write up I made into a binder along with any documents connected to the vet that I was able to find online. Things such as obituaries, draft cards, and basic enlistment records from NARA. This system really helps when you have a closet filled to the brim with uniforms!