Thanks 

I'd say that is rarer (and better) considering the fact that it has not been around since the 1920s, this particular model dates definitely years before ww2 because it's not with the two crossed M1 garands (more modern)

Ha ha they seemed to have recovered nicely from that little faux pas in time. Speaking of time they even have a line of watches now. 

Which is great when the base metal is silver, but unless we are only discussing Type 1 Navy Purple hearts, no other Purple Hearts would be made of silver and thus would not tarnish as you suppose.   I am with Dave on this one. The blackening has to have been done through a chemical process as opposed to paint. If the lettering was done with paint, we would find lots of examples where the paint has flaked out from the crevices where the medal was engraved.   Allan

I am going to bet that the field jacket is more likely a relic from the Korean War era or slightly later rather than a strictly WWII issued item. Name tags like the one sewn to the field jacket are more often seen in the 1950's than in WWII. Additionally, the last name is far too common to try to identify the original owner as being from a specific unit.   My two cents,   Allan

Brought to you by the folks who brought you the SS Honor Dagger....

Sure, of course, the early A-14 mask is slightly different from the mid and late war A-14. Straps are a little bit different and hose coupling is different. 

Enjoy! 16 years talking about USN/USMC pilots from WW2 on this forum... if you have any questions feel free to ask in this thread ⤴️