I recently acquired a huge lot of WWII uniforms in a rummage sale. I think, about, 30 pieces. Most look like they've never been worn, some are so starched they can stand by themselves. They all came out of one property in MA and most are labeled as belonging to the same gentleman. But, I'm not a WWII historian but have a fascination with the era, so I'm not too sure how to identify these things. And the last question I had everyone was so informative, so maybe you can help me out again. The man's name was Schwarzenberg, and his serial number is stamped everywhere. But, I can't find any information about him. There's sailor uniforms, white and navy. Two of the navy ones have different patches. What do the colors and patches mean? Then there's Khaki ones. All with different patches as well. Were these Army? They all have the same serial number inside. I also have all the pants, belts, ties, hats. Nine yards, all same surname and numbers. Even a canvas bag that has "Schwarzenberg E. W. JR." That's the most identifying I have. Can't find him anywhere. Then I also have 2 jackets with no stamps. I assume they belong to the same guy. I took a picture of some of the internals of the items because maybe the numbers will be easily identified. Any ideas?
Not sure they all belong to same person as actual service uniforms. The first is Marine Lance Corporal I think. the white and blue are navy, white for summer, blue for winter. The hitch is one seems to indicate he was in aviation while others seem to be medical, Another looks to be Army. Its not unknown for people to serve in two different branch's but 3 would be unlikely and two very different (aviation and medical) also seem most unusual.
most probably these are not all from the same service member ...I highly doubt a USMC Corporal would have also been in the Navy and/or Army Third Army patch? United States Army Central - Wikipedia
..the last picture on the left has ''El Toro 247''--El Toro was a Marine Corps Air Station ..why that is on the coat, I don't know....that's odd.....we never had anything like that .....I was in the USMC for 8 years
As far as the U.S. Navy patches, you have Third Class Petty Officer (E-4) aviation machinist mate, and a Third Class Petty Officer (E-4) hospital corpsman patches. The one hash mark on the sleeve of the white and Navy blue uniform tops indicates four years service. One hash mark for every four years of service.
This looks to be a dry cleaner's tag. These rank insignias are more modern. I don't think they were used in WW2. I know this doesn't really help, but I found this Albert E. Schwarzenberg (Unknown-2011) - Find A... On the blue Navy uniform, the patch is for a Petty Officer 3rd Class with an Aviation Machinist's rating On the white Navy uniform, the patch is a Petty Officer 3rd Class with a Corpsman rating
Aha, that may be the guy. I did also get some letters from the sale that were from the same house, they were from Lawrence, which this Albert was from too. But, then, who was E.W.Schwarzenberg Jr? Plus, the serial numbers all match. Except for the Machinist rating, I can't find the tag in there, it may have been removed. And the Marine Corporal one doesn't have a tag either. I also forgot one. I recognize the 20th Air Force patch, but what about the ones on the sleeves?
This looks like WWII. The two gold bars on the left sleeve represent one year overseas during war, 6 months each. The single hashmark below them represents three years of service. The rank is corporal . The square on the bottom of the right sleeve indicates a Distinguished Unit Citation. He was in the Army Air Corp, which was part of the Army until the Air Force was organized as a separate branch in 1947. The gold triangle above the right pocket is called a "ruptured duck" or Honorable Discharge Emblem.