ORIG US ARMY WW2 36th & 63rd INF DIV T5 7-PC UNIFORM O'COAT IKE SHIRT PANTS CAPS
This is an original tailored 7-piece WWII US Army uniform grouping from one man, a GI who was a Technician, 5th Grade (T5) in the 36th and 63rd infantry divisions. A wool Ike jacket, men's size 36R, ; 2. An enlisted man's OD wool overcoat, size 36R; 3.
A wool men's field / combat /dress long-sleeve shirt, in size 15 x 32; 4. A pair of men's wool combat / field / dress pants, size 32 x 35 (hemmed to 29 inch length) ; and 5., 6., 7., Three enlisted man's overseas caps in size 6 7/8 (two of them) and 7 (one of them). These items are marked in a variety of places with the man's ID number first initial of last name, and last four digits of his Army Serial Number, S-6360.The Ike jacket has T-5 chevrons on both sleeves, these are OD cotton embroidered onto dark blue felt and machine-sewn with OD thread. There is a 36th Infantry Division patch sewn onto the right shoulder, this is hand-sewn. On the left sleeve is the stitch outline of a 63rd Infantry Division patch but this was removed.
The lower left sleeve has a 3-year service stripe and originally had five overseas bars, but the overseas bars were removed, leaving remnants of OD wool felt and a machine stitched outline. There is a ruptured duck patch sewn above the right breast pocket. The collar shows marks from a pinback collar brass on the right and a screwback collar brass on the left (there is a small hole from the screwback post). Inside the neck area is an embroidered size tag, 36R. The ID number S-6360 is inked into the jacket lining in the lower right near the waist.A specification tag in the inside left pocket reads: Jackets, Field, Wool, O. 18, 1944, Pattern Dated 5/10/44, Spec. The overcoat is made of heavy OD wool.
It has a 63rd Infantry Division patch hand-sewn onto the right shoulder. Stamped and inked into the lining near the neck is 36R. The ID number S6360 is inked into the neck area also, there is a stenciled number (M-6849) there as well. The overcoat has brown plastic buttons. A specification tag inside reads: Overcoats, Wool, Melton, O. Roll Collar, SIGMUND EISNER CO.W-669-qm-19487, Dated May 21, 1942, Q. 164, Dated 4/2/42, Stock No.
The shirt is a brown/OD wool combat/field/dress shirt. It was a "Special" shirt, meaning it had a gas flap, but the gas flap was removed (a common practice by GI's). The sleeve gussets look like they were removed too.
Buttons for the gas flap are still present inside the shirt on the side opposite where the flap was. A specification tag sewn to the inside right tail reads: Shirts, Flannel, O. 35C, Dated 6/25/42, Stock No. A worn tag in the neck area is marked 15 32, indicating a men's size 15 inch neck, 32 inch sleeve length.
The trousers are the combat/field/dress type, in brown wool. Trousers have a heavy white cotton waist band and white cotton twill pockets.
The pants close in front with a button fly that closes with five brown plastic buttons. There is a gas flap at the fly. A linen specification label is present inside the pants, sewn to the front pocket, it reads: Trousers, Wool, Field, Serge, 18 oz. 55-T-[illegible], 32 x 35, ADVANCE GARMENT MFG. " An embroidered size tag in the waistband reads "32 x 35.
The pants have been hemmed to a 29 inch length, with about 3 inches of material hemmed. The overseas caps are all OD wool with with khaki or light OD sweatbands inside. One of the caps is piped blue (for infantry), the other two are unpiped.
The cap with the piping is stamped inside with "6 7/8, " and has S6360 inked into the lining. One of the unpiped caps has a size, "7 1/8, " or perhaps "7 1/4" stamped inside, but this has been inked out and a number 7 is handwritten. There is a white linen specification tag, this is partially legible and reads: [illegible] Cap Co. 6354, [illegible] Type I, Dated July 8?
The third cap has a specification label, but it is washed out. The jacket is in very good to excellent condition, it shows some use and wear but overall at least very good. The lining is in good shape, and the jacket has all of its original buttons, buckles, snap, and adjusting tabs. The jacket is clean and the specification tag is quite legible. The T5 chevrons are in very nice condition, near new.
The 36th Infantry Division patch has some slight soiling but is in excellent condition. There is a small (1/4 inch) hole in the right epaulet, a pinpoint size hole in the upper left sleeve, and a 1/4 by 3/8 inch hole in the lower left part of the jacket.The shirt has had the gas flap removed but is in very good to excellent condition, with about 5 very small (1 to 2 mm) holes scattered across the back. It is mostly clean, there is some slight damage to the size label. The trousers are worn and soiled, the inside pockets are soiled and there is a large reddish stain perhaps blood?
The trousers have all buttons. They have been hemmed from the original 35 inch length to about a 29 inch length, with about 3 inches of material left in the hem. There is a 2-inch hand-stitched repair in the right front top area of the trousers. There are some scattered soiling spots. The pants were used, looks like they might have been worn in combat.
The caps are in very good to excellent condition, clean, with no moth damage. The inside sweatbands have some light soiling.
A brief summary of the 36th Infantry Division in World War II is as follows. The 36th Division was called up again for active federal service on 25 November 1940, during World War II (although the United States was neutral at this stage), at San Antonio, Texas, departing for its mobilization station at Camp Bowie, Texas, on 14 December 1940. The division commanded by Major General Claude V. Birkhead, moved to Brownwood, Texas, on 1 June 1941, where it participated in the VIII Corps Brownwood Maneuvers until 13 June 1941.
The division then moved to Mansfield, Louisiana, and took part in both the August and September 1941 Louisiana Maneuvers. The division, now commanded by Brigadier General Fred L. As a result of this reorganization, the 144th Infantry, plus numerous supporting units, were transferred out of the division. The division then moved to Camp Blanding, Florida, on 19 February 1942, and participated in the Carolina Maneuvers between 9 July 1942, and 15 August 1942. The division then was staged at Camp Edwards, Massachusetts, on 17 August 1942, for its port call to the European Theater Of Operations (ETO). During its time at Camp Edwards, the division conducted mock assaults of Martha's Vineyard Island in preparation for future amphibious operations. The division departed the New York Port of Embarkation (NYPOE) on 2 April 1943, for service in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO). Pre-2 February 1942 square organization. 131st Field Artillery Regiment (75 mm). 132nd Field Artillery Regiment (75 mm). 133rd Field Artillery Regiment (155 mm). Post-2 February 1942 triangular reorganization. Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 36th Infantry Division Artillery. 131st Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm). 132nd Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm). 133rd Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm). 155th Field Artillery Battalion (155 mm). 36th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized). Headquarters, Special Troops, 36th Infantry Division. Headquarters Company, 36th Infantry Division. 736th Ordnance Light Maintenance Company. 191st Tank Battalion (26 August 1944 31 August 1944). 753rd Tank Battalion (15 August 1944 26 December 1944); (4 March 1945 29 March 1945); (29 April 1945 13 June 1945). 636th Tank Destroyer Battalion (15 August 1944 29 March 1945; 29 April 1945 13 June 1945).822nd Tank Destroyer Battalion (29 April 1945 1 May 1945). 443rd Anti Aircraft Artillery Battalion (AW)(7 December 1944 13 January 1945). 442nd Regimental Combat Team (11 September 1944 13 October 1944). The 36th Division landed in French North Africa on 13 April 1943, and trained at Arzew and Rabat.
However, the training was hampered by the need to supply guards for some 25,000 Axis prisoners of war (POWs) who had surrendered at the conclusion of the Tunisian Campaign in May. It was assigned to Major General Ernest J.
Dawley's VI Corps, part of the Fifth Army, but attached to the Services of Supply, North African Theater of Operations, United States Army (NATOUSA), for supply. The 36th Division was originally intended to take part in the Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, but Lieutenant General George S. Patton the Seventh Army commander, preferred to use experienced troops instead and the 36th Division remained in North Africa. The Fifth Army was commanded by Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark, who knew the 36th Division well from his time as chief of staff to Lieutenant General Lesley J. McNair, commander of Army Ground Forces, and specifically chose the 36th Division, rather than the more experienced 34th Infantry Division, together with the British 46th and 56th Infantry Divisions, to spearhead the Allied assault landings at Salerno, Italy, which was given the codename of Operation Avalanche. The division first saw action, in the Italian Campaign, on 9 September 1943. It was the first U. Combat unit to fight on the European continent when it landed by sea at Paestum and fought in the Battle of Salerno against intense German opposition. The Germans launched numerous fierce counterattacks on 1214 September, but the 36th, which at one stage during the battle was holding a 35-mile sector of the front (six times more than a full-strength infantry division was able to hold), repulsed them with the aid of air support and naval gunfire, and, with the help of paratroopers of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, advanced slowly, securing the area from Agropoli to Altavilla. After sustaining over 4,000 casualties in its first major action, the division spent the next few weeks behind the lines, where it remained in the Fifth Army reserve, absorbing replacements and training for future combat operations. Despite the heavy losses, the 36th Division was considered to have fought well, and four men were awarded the Medal of Honor. It captured Mount Maggiore, Mount Lungo, and the village of San Pietro despite strong enemy positions and severe winter weather. This grueling campaign against the Bernhardt Line was marked by futile attempts to establish a secure bridgehead across the Gari River, erroneously identified as the Rapido on 1 January 1944, to 8 February.The division attacked across the Gari River on 20 January but was harshly repulsed by the 15th Panzer Grenadier Division, and the 141st and 143rd Infantry Regiments were virtually destroyed and the attack was stopped on 22 January. In 48 hours the 36th Division had sustained 1,681 casualties, 143 of them killed, 663 wounded, and 875 missing, out of almost 6,000 men who took part. Many of the casualties consisted of newly arrived replacements who were poorly trained.
German losses were minimal, with only 64 killed and a further 179 wounded. A company commander in the 143rd Infantry said, I had 184 men. Forty-eight hours later, I had 17. If that's not mass murder, I don't know what is.
Strong controversy flared among the officers of the division and Lieutenant General Clark, the Fifth Army commander, was severely criticized for having ordered a difficult frontal attack and was accused of having caused the disaster. After the war Congress, urged by veterans of the division, conducted an investigation into the causes and responsibility for the defeat on the Gari River. [8] Clark was absolved of blame and he personally believed the attack to be necessary, in order to attract German reserves from Northern Italy to prevent their use at Anzio, where an amphibious assault, codenamed Operation Shingle, was being launched by Anglo-American forces in an attempt to outflank the Winter Line, capture the Italian capital of Rome and potentially force a German withdrawal away from their formidable Winter Line defenses. However, the German reserves identified in Northern Italy had already been drawn forward onto the front of the British X Corps during the First Battle of Monte Cassino a few days before, thus making the 36th Division's assault unnecessary, although this was unknown to Clark at the time. After assisting the 34th Infantry Division in the attack on Cassino and fighting defensively along the Gari River, the severely depleted 36th withdrew from the line on 12 March, for rest and recreation.
The division arrived by sea at the Anzio beachhead on 22 May, under the command of Major General Lucian Truscott's VI Corps, to take part in Operation Diadem, with the breakout from the beachhead commencing the following day. It drove north to capture Velletri on 1 June, and entered Rome on 5 June 1944, the day before the Normandy landings. Pushing up from Rome, the 36th encountered sharp resistance at Magliano, but reached Piombino on 26 June, before moving back to Paestum for rest and recreation. In July Major General Walker, who had commanded the 36th Division since September 1941, was replaced by Major General John E.
On 15 August 1944, as part of the U. 6th Army Group, the division made another amphibious assault landing, against light opposition in the Saint-Raphaël-Fréjus area of southern France as part of Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of Southern France. A rapid advance opened the Rhone River Valley.
Montelimar fell, 28 August, and large German units were trapped. On 15 September, the division was attached to the French First Army. The 36th advanced to the Moselle River at Remiremont and the foothills of the Vosges.
On 30 September, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (442nd RCT, a Japanese-American unit) was assigned to the 36th to help shore up the division. The 442nd was subsequently used to spearhead the capture towns of Bruyères and Biffontaine where they faced stiff opposition. On 24 October the 143rd Infantry relieved the 100th and 3rd Battalion who were sent to Belmont, another small town to the north, for some short-lived rest.
On 23 October the 1st Battalion, 141st Infantry were cut off just beyond the town or Biffontaine. On 27 October the 442nd RCT was called back in to save this Lost Battalion. The 100th fielded 1,432 men shortly before, but was now down to 239 infantrymen and 21 officers. The 2nd Battalion was down to 316 riflemen and 17 officers, while not a single company in the 3rd Battalion had over 100 riflemen; the entire 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team was down to less than 800 soldiers. On 13 October 1944, when attached to the 36th Infantry Division, the unit was at 2,943 rifleman and officers, but in only three weeks 140 were killed and 1,800 were wounded, while 43 were missing.
[10] For this action, the 442nd RCT would earn 3 of its 7 Presidential Unit Citations. In a grinding offensive, the division crossed the Meurthe River, breached the Ste. Marie Pass and burst into the Alsatian Plains. The enemy counterattacked, 13 December 1944, but the 36th held the perimeter of the Colmar Pocket.
Brooks, under the Seventh Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Alexander Patch. The German counterattacks out of the Colmar Pocket were so fierce, that at times, the field artillery was forced to fire over open sights at point blank range to stop them. On 20 December 1944, the division resumed the attack, advancing northward along the Rhine River to Mannheim meeting heavy resistance at Haguenau, Oberhofen, and Wissembourg.
In this action Company "G" of the 143rd Infantry received a Presidential Unit Citation. On 27 December 1944, the division was reassigned to Major General Frank W. On the afternoon of 30 October 3rd Battalion broke through and reached 1st Battalion, 141st, rescuing 211 T-Patchers at the cost of 800 men in five days. However, the fighting continued for the 442nd as they moved past the 141st Infantry. The drive continued until they reached Saint-Die on 17 November when they were finally pulled back.
The division was taken out of the line for the first time since it had landed in the south of France. On 3 January 1945, the division was reassigned to Major General Wade H. In January 1945, the division was reassigned to VI Corps.
The 36th was reassigned to the Seventh Army on 29 March 1945, and moved to the Danube River on 22 April 1945. The 36th Division has been recognized as a liberating unit for its work securing the subcamps of the Dachau concentration camp system.
The 36th Division was reassigned to the XXI Corps on 27 April 1945, and attacked the Künzelsau area on the 30th. Members of the 36th Division's 142nd Infantry arriving as reinforcements on 5 May tipped the Battle for Castle Itter in favor of a combined U. Army/Wehrmacht defense against a Waffen SS attack, the only time German and American forces fought side-by-side in World War II.
By 8 May 1945, otherwise known as Victory in Europe Day (VE-Day), the 36th Division was based in Kitzbühel, Austria where it captured Generalfeldmarschall- Gerd von Rundstedt, the commander of all German Armed Forces on the Western Front, and its final station was at Kufstein, Austria on 14 August 1945. The 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery, long with the rest of the 36th Infantry Division, was mobilized for federal service on 20 November 1940. Earmarked as part of the reinforcements to U.Army troops in the Philippines, the Battalion was detached from the 36th Infantry and sailed on the USS Republic on 21 November 1941 for Pearl Harbor. From there it was diverted to Australia, learning of the surprise attack and U. Entry into World War II en route. Before the end of the month the Battalion was bound for the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies. It took part in the Battle of Java and fought fiercely at Porong with several other Allied units until it was captured by the Japanese.
Information on the unit's fate after the Dutch surrender in Java failed to reach the U. Government, resulting in its subsequent nickname, The Lost Battalion. " As prisoners, the men were forced to work in Burma and Thailand as slave laborers on the Burma-Siam "Death Railway of The Bridge on the River Kwai fame, as well as coal mines, docks and shipyards in Japan and other southeast Asian countries. Conditions were poor, treatment harsh, and mortality exceptionally high. Submarine attacks en route to Singapore and Japan, and more yet were killed by American bombers. It was through debriefing of some survivors of the POW convoys who had been rescued by U. Submarines that the Government first learned of the unit's fate. When liberated, the men were scattered throughout Southeast Asia in Java, Singapore, Burma, Thailand, French Indo China, Japan, China and Manchuria. Note, the 36th Infantry Division also for a time lost its 1st Battalion of the 141st Regiment on 24 October 1944 in the Vosges Mountains in eastern France. The attached 442nd Regiment was sent into rescue them.Legion of Merit Medals: 49. Bronze Star Medals: 5,407. Total battle casualties: 19,466. Killed in action: 3,131.
Wounded in action: 13,191. Prisoner of war: 2,650. A brief history of the 63rd Infantry Division is as follows. 1 French Croix de Guerre with Palm 254th Infantry Regiment.
2 Medals of Honor First Lieutenant James E. And Staff Sergeant John R. 4,999 Purple Heart Medal. 2 French Legion of Honor.15 French Croix de Guerre individual awards. Brigadier General/Major General Louis E. Hibbs (June 1943 July 1945). Harris (August 1945 27 September 1945). The 63rd Infantry Division was activated on 15 June 1943, at Camp Blanding, Florida.
Shortly thereafter, the division removed to Camp Van Dorn, Mississippi to prepare for deployment to Europe. On three occasions during the next seventeen months, the division trained up recruits only to have them cross-leveled to other divisions heading for theater. The first elements of the division, anxious to get in the fight, finally arrived in Europe in December 1944 and were joined by the rest of the division in January 1945. Triangular Division example: 1942 U. The division consisted of the following units.Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 63rd Infantry Division Artillery. 718th Field Artillery Battalion (155 mm). 861st Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm). 862nd Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm).
863rd Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm). 63rd Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized). Headquarters, Special Troops, 63rd Infantry Division.
Headquarters Company, 63rd Infantry Division. 763rd Ordnance Light Maintenance Company. 70th Tank Battalion (attached 1218 March 1945). 740th Tank Battalion (attached 1728 March 1945).
753rd Tank Battalion (attached 31 March-28 May 1945). 692nd Tank Destroyer Battalion (attached 3031 May 1945).
776th Tank Destroyer Battalion (attached 1621 March 1945). 822nd Tank Destroyer Battalion (attached 21 March-28 May 1945). 436th AAA Automatic Weapons Battalion (attached 11 February-1 May 1945). Three regiments of the 63rd Division arrived in Marseille, France, 8 December 1944, trained at Haguenau and, under the designation Task Force Harris, protected the east flank of the Seventh Army along the Rhine River. The task force fought defensively from 22 to 30 December 1944.
On 30 December 44, while the 253d Inf Regt was attached to the 44th Inf Div and the 255th Inf Regt was attached to the 100th Inf Div, the 254th Inf Regt was moved to the Colmar area of France where it was attached to the 3d Inf Div which was at the time a part of the First French Army. The infantry regiments remained with their attachments until early February 1945.
The rest of the division arrived at Marseilles, 14 January 1945, and moved to Willerwald on 2 February, where it was joined by the advance elements on 6 February. On 7 February, the 63rd conducted local raids and patrols, then pushed forward, crossing the Saar River on 17 February, and mopping up the enemy in Muhlen Woods. After bitter fighting at Güdingen early in March, the division smashed at the Siegfried Line on 15th at Saarbrücken, Germany, taking Ormesheim and finally breaching the line at Sankt Ingbert and Hassel on 20 March. Hard fighting still lay ahead, but the Siegfried Line was Germany's last attempt to defend its prewar boundaries along the western front.
Before resting on 23 March, the 63d took Spiesen-Elversberg, Neunkirchen and Erbach. From then until the end of the war, the 63d Division carved a path of "blood and fire" from Sarreguemines through Germany. On 28 March, the division crossed the Rhine at Lampertheim, moved to Viernheim and captured Heidelberg on 30 March. Heavy resistance slowed the attack on Adelsheim, Möckmühl, and Bad Wimpfen.
The division switched to the southeast, capturing Lampoldshausen and clearing the Harthäuser Woods on 7 April. A bridgehead was secured over the Kocher River near Weißbach on 8 April, and Schwäbisch Hall fell on 17 April. Advance elements crossed the Rems River and rushed to the Danube.
The Danube was crossed on 25 April, and Leipheim fell before the division was withdrawn from the line on 28 April, and assigned security duty from the Rhine to Darmstadt and Würzburg on a line to Stuttgart and Speyer. The 63d began leaving for home on 21 August 1945, and was inactivated on 27 September 1945. From mid-February 1945 until the end of the war, the 63rd Infantry Division made a path of Blood and Fire from Sarreguemines through the Siegfried Line to Worms, Mannheim, Heidelberg, Gunzburg and ending in Landsberg Germany at the end of April 1945 when the division was pulled from the line for a much needed rest. Total battle casualties: 4,502. Wounded in action: 3,326. I have no information on the man (or men) who owned this, other than the man was a T5 in the 36th Infantry Division (originally), and the 63rd Division (likely transferred to that division as he awaited returning home from the ETO). The item "ORIG US ARMY WW2 36th & 63rd INF DIV T5 7-PC UNIFORM O'COAT IKE SHIRT PANTS CAPS" is in sale since Tuesday, February 18, 2020. This item is in the category "Collectibles\Militaria\WW II (1939-45)\Original Period Items\United States\Uniforms". The seller is "msaco" and is located in Flagstaff, Arizona.This item can be shipped worldwide.