Posted on 12/29/2014 1:22:36 AM PST by marktwain
Some GI wanted to keep his sweetheart picture close at hand. I have seen pictures enclosed in Lucite grips before. The uniform appears to be an Army officer's winter service uniform from early in the war. The Sam Browne belt and shoulder strap were replaced early in 1942. Of course, existing uniforms were often used for quite some time after they were superseded.
If you look closely at the frame, just below the slide, you can make out the UNITED STATES PROPERTY stamp.
Large numbers of soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines kept their .45 service pistols after the war, believing that they had earned them.
I cannot make out the rank of the officer in the picture. Perhaps an alert reader can puzzle it out.
©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch
ping
I just love these...we have sold several similar; one had a photo of a child. Also, did you know that there are “locket” buttons from that era? They look like regular uniform buttons...but if you look closely you will see a hinge on one side. I have two of them in my collection...one still has a compass and sweetheart photo inside.
Ref “I cannot make out the rank of the officer in the picture. Perhaps an alert reader can puzzle it out.”
My two cents: The picture was probably taken when he was newly commissioned(most likely a young 2LT, possibly a 1LT depending on how quickly he got promoted). No campaign or service ribbons and the probability that it was a keepsake he kept on his weapon during the war, indicates it was taken before he went anywhere. -— Of course, there were a lot of folks in uniform who served out the war state-side.
Thanks for the Post Dean!
Cool History PING!
Awesome!
good on him
One of Ernie Pyle’s more moving essays was about an ordnance salvage depot in France not long after D-Day. The depot worked with taking recovered weapons dropped by wounded or killed GIs, refurbishing them (or assembling one usable arm out of several destroyed ones) and reissuing them.
Many of them had been personalized by their prior (often now dead) bearers...initials, names of wives or sweethearts, etc. carved in the stocks. The one that the depot crew considered the most heartbreaking was an M1 Garand that had been personalized in a similar manner to this .45...the prior user had cut out a hollow in the stock by his cheek, pasted in a photo of a woman, and glued a watch crystal over it.
Nobody had a clue of the prior user, or what had happened to him. It was simply another rifle that had been recovered, refurbished and put back into the war.
Very cool.
The MOS insignias would seem to indicate Infantry or Armor. Maybe MP.
Your analysis seems sound. As he was a young officer, it seems likely the uniform was near new; therefore he was in the service at very close to the beginning of the war, if not before Pearl Harbor.
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