Chief Petty Officers Tunic

[BodhiEtheridge]

Picked this guy up at a flee market for 5 bucks, it’s a little beat up and missing the middle button but for the price I got it I have no complaints at all. No tags or markings besides what I believe could be a laundry number “E289”. It has some nice patches and I’d say it’s 1950s issue but not too sure.

Cheers,
Bodhi

[Gwar]

Well worth the price !

[08SMLE48]

Nice find! Not often you find USCG CPO khaki

[Tank Destroyer]

Excellent find and for the price it would have come home with me too.

[BodhiEtheridge]

Thank you gents! It came out of a flee market in Cape Cod Massachusetts (currently on vacation) lots of USCG activity here so I suppose it would be the place to find it.

Good to hear it’s a little more uncommon, I will admit I’m rather ignorant to US collecting area I have lots to learn. I just couldn’t resist for the price.

[Rakkasan187]

Bodhi,

This is a wonderful US Coast Guard uniform. I grew up on Cape Cod and visited the Coast Guard Stations there. There is a great Coast Guard Heritage Musuem at Barnstable, Mass close to the far end of the Cape Cod Canal. There is some great history there at the museum.

If you get the chance there is (or at least was) a pretty decent Army/Navy Surplus shop in Provincetown, Mass. It is called "Marine Specialties" and is on Commercial Street.

When I was growing up they had a lots of military surplus in the shop, I remember hundreds and hundreds of WW2 Black Coffin Cases for Silver Stars, Bronze Stars, Air Medals, Distinguished Flying Crosses and other awards. I also used to see Medal of Honor boxes, but I never purchased any as I was more into shoulder patches then and they had huge wooden barrels with thousands of patches for .5 cents each. I would spend hours in the shop with my folks and sister. We had a great time there.

After the Berlin Wall came down the shop had some very large quantities of East German insignia, uniforms and equipment and other military related items.. Lots of odds and ends, one of a kind items and knick knacks.

If you get a chance it may be worth a look.. I haven't been home to that part in about 10-12 years but I remember the shop well..

Another piece of history for the local Cape Cod area was a WW2 Liberty Ship that was used as a target ship in
Eastham, Mass. We had a summer cottage at Eastham and would walk to the beach everyday. The ship was off shore about 3 miles and at low tide you could almost walk out to the ship. The name of the ship was the SS James Longstreet named after Confederate General James Longstreet. It entered service in 1942 but in 1943 it ran aground during a storm near Sandy Hook, NJ. It was eventually purchased by the US Navy and used as a target ship for early air to surface guided missiles and later for Project DOVE.

The relic is off limits to divers due to the unexploded ordnance but the ship can still be seen when the tide is really low...

You may even be able to find a few old postcards of the target ship and there was a book that was written by a local Cape Cod resident titled "The Target Ship in Cape Cod Bay" by Noel W. Beyle. It has some great history about the ship and some of the events that happened during target practices..

Best regards, stay safe

Smitty

[BodhiEtheridge]

Hello Smitty,

Thank you for the great reply, myself, my parents and brother have been visiting the cape yearly since about 2011. It’s a beautiful place to spend time, we like to visit out of season to avoid the beach fees and crowds and We stay in a little cottage in Chatham that looks out across the salt marsh into the ocean.

I’ve just had a search for that Surplus store, looks like it’s become very novelty item heavy but I see some surplus bits and pieces so I’ll make sure to visit if I get then chance! I will say since I last came the antique shops and wellfleet flee market has become lacking in the militaria department. I used to leave with a bag full of finds and this year I’ve only got some patches and this tunic.

Militaria to the side it’s a beautiful place, and I thank you for the locations, I’ll recommend we visit them all and hopefully we will.

Best Regards,
Bodhi

[Rakkasan187]

Enjoy your trip Bodhi..

Smitty