OSS Special Recon Bn. / Chinese Commando Jacket

An exceptional and rare U.S. Army officer’s “Ike” jacket that was worn by a Lieutenant in the Office of Strategic Services (This jacket was acquired together with the same officer’s four pocket uniform jacket, which is also being offered on this site). The insignia and ribbons on the tunic indicate that this man was both a qualified paratrooper and an infantry officer. He served in combat in Europe as a member of the OSS 2671st Special Reconnaissance Battalion and then, like a number of the members of the OSS, he served in China with both the Chinese Commandos and the 1st War Area Marauder Corps. The tunic is the waist length “Ike” style jacket of officer quality. The interior bears the “Regulation Army Officer’s Uniform” label. The left breast carries a pin back paratrooper wing in sterling silver. Below the paratrooper wings are found a single ribbon for the Bronze Star; below that is a ribbon bar with the ribbons for the American Defense Medal; the European Theater Medal with one campaign star; and the Pacific Theater Medal; and finally a third ribbon bar with a single ribbon for the World War II Victory Medal. The shoulders of the tunic carry pin back rank insignia of a First Lieutenant. The lower left sleeve has four bullion overseas stripes reflecting two years of service outside of the United States. The left shoulder bears an extraordinary, theater made bullion and wool shoulder patch of the Chinese Commandos, above which is the large, theater made bullion “Special Recon. Bn.” arc that was worn by the members of the OSS 2671st Special Reconnaissance Battalion. On the left “combat unit” shoulder is an amazing, theater made, example of the insignia of the Chinese “1st War Area Marauder Corps”. That patch is also bullion embroidery on wool. The lapels display the insignia of an Army Infantry officer. The jacket is in generally excellent condition. It has a few small scattered holes, most all of which are very small and barely noticeable. One hole, on the bottom corner of the left collar point, is slightly more noticeable but it is not at all distracting. There is no name within the tunic, but the original insignia on the tunic may well make an identification possible. That insignia tells us that this junior officer served with the OSS, first in Europe and then in China as a commando and a Chinese Marauder. This immediately narrows down the number of men who could have worn the tunic. Beyond this, the ribbons reflect that the man who wore this tunic was serving in the military before the attack on Pearl Harbor, thus entitling him to the American Defense Medal. The tunic was, in all probability, tailored for the officer and adorned with the insignia after the officer returned to the United States. Yet the tunic reflects junior officer rank in the Army. This all suggests that the original owner of the tunic was an enlisted man in the Army prior to Pearl Harbor. After the war began, he was qualified as a paratrooper and joined the Office of Strategic Services, which was established in June of 1942. This paratrooper could then have been sent to Europe before he had been in the United States for a full year, meaning that he didn’t qualify for the American Campaign Medal, which is not present on the ribbon bars. Ultimately, by the time that the end of the war was approaching, his overseas service in combat for the OSS warranted that he be commissioned as an officer, which would have made him a Second and then a First Lieutenant. The number of men with this type of service record must be very, very small.

Overall the tunic is a truly extraordinary example of a uniform worn by a paratrooper and combat officer of the Office of Strategic Services, one of the most famed of all American military formations in the Second World War, and it bears absolutely stunning examples of some of the rarest American military insignia from the war.