WWII 101st Airborne Division 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment First Sergeant Uniform With Gaunt London Wing

The uniform is comprised of the olive drab wool “Ike” jacket and the matching trousers. The jacket displays the shoulder patch of the 101st Airborne Division, carefully hand stitched to the left shoulder. On the lower left sleeve are four bullion overseas stripes, and both sleeves carry the chevrons of a United States Army First Sergeant. The collar has clutch back “U.S.” and infantry branch collar disks. On the upper right breast is the ribbon of the Presidential Unit Citation, which the Division in its entirety was awarded for its defense of Bastogne. On the upper left breast is the blue oval of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, onto which was worn a full size, pin back, Paratrooper Wing marked on the reverse “J.R. Gaunt London”. Below the wing is a custom embroidered ribbon bar set, with the embroidered ribbons of the Bronze Star with a metal “V” device, reflecting that the decoration was awarded for an act of valor; the Purple Heart; the Army Commendation Ribbon (an actual medal for the Army Commendation Ribbon was not created until 1949); the American Defense Medal, indicating service in the military before Pearl Harbor; the American Campaign Medal; and the European Campaign Medal with three metal campaign stars affixed to it. The ribbons were embroidered onto an olive drab wool base rectangle which was then sewn to the jacket. Below the ribbon set is a pin back Combat Infantry Badge marked “Sterling” on the reverse. The jacket has a few scattered holes, primarily in the lower left sleeve, but these are not distracting. The jacket is tagged as a size 38 Regular although it was tailored to a trimmer size. The trousers are quite clean, and are tagged as a size 33-29. The trousers have a button fly and suspender buttons in the waist.

Both the jacket and trousers bear the interior laundry mark of “H-7354”. The jacket also has a laundry mark stamp of “S-5884”. The jacket was modified with tailoring that is sometimes seen in World War II Ike uniforms that were worn by soldiers who wanted to present an especially smart appearance, as would be expected from a First Sergeant. It seems probable that this First Sergeant wanted an additional Ike jacket to wear beyond the jacket that he had been issued, one that was carefully tailored, fully badged, and which would then be worn on special occasions, such as on parade or on leave. He likely secured this jacket from another solider or from stores of previously issued uniform items that had been turned in, thus accounting for the “S-5884” laundry mark. After obtaining this jacket, the Sergeant had it modified to remove the buttons, replacing them with a zipper and snap closures (the zipper is marked “Conmar” and is fully functional). Additionally, the flaps of the two breast pockets were sewn closed, and the two interior pockets of the jacket were also sewn closed. This then prevented anything from being placed into any pocket which would have marred the carefully tailored lines of the jacket. To this jacket the First Sergeant then added his personal insignia, to include the custom embroidered ribbon bars, the carefully sewn shoulder patch, and the oval wing backer.

Overall the uniform is in very good condition and it makes an impressive appearance.