Hello all,
I am currently putting together a display of some of my WWII US Airborne items. I have a great steel and glass pharmacist's cabinet from Restoration Hardware that will house the display, but I fear that the glare from the glass will prevent any good photos.
So, here are the items that will go in the first version of the display. The M-42 jacket and M3 knife are ID'd to Bois Grimes (38664799). Grimes was a 507<SUP>th</SUP> Parachute Infantry Regiment trooper. He is listed on the unit roster of the 507<SUP>th</SUP> PIR. Here is what I was able to find out about him...after stateside parachute training, Grimes was staged in Northern Ireland near the end of 1943, and attached to the 82<SUP>nd</SUP> Airborne Division. He jumped with the 507<SUP>th</SUP> (B Company) on D-Day, and upon its return to England in July 1944, the 507<SUP>th</SUP> was permanently assigned to the 17<SUP>th</SUP> Airborne Division (because it was battle-tested, whereas the rest of the 17<SUP>th</SUP> was not). Bois Grimes and the 507<SUP>th</SUP> missed Operation Market Garden (Holland), but jumped across the Rhine in Operation Varsity in March 1945. Grimes had two combat jumps (one with B Company, and one with G Company), although this M-42 likely only saw action in the D-Day jump. The entire 82d and 101<SUP>st</SUP> received the new M-43 combat uniforms in July-August 1944.
The jacket is faintly marked with Grimes' initial "G" and the last 4 digits of his serial number (4799) on the inside of the rear pleat. The M6 scabbard is marked in the same manner. The atlas, arm flag with ties, and the compass came in the same grouping and I am confident they belonged to Grimes as well, but they are not marked or otherwise ID'd. Several of the other items came with another M-42 in my collection, but that jacket and those items are not ID'd.
Here are the photos:
The M-42
I am currently putting together a display of some of my WWII US Airborne items. I have a great steel and glass pharmacist's cabinet from Restoration Hardware that will house the display, but I fear that the glare from the glass will prevent any good photos.
So, here are the items that will go in the first version of the display. The M-42 jacket and M3 knife are ID'd to Bois Grimes (38664799). Grimes was a 507<SUP>th</SUP> Parachute Infantry Regiment trooper. He is listed on the unit roster of the 507<SUP>th</SUP> PIR. Here is what I was able to find out about him...after stateside parachute training, Grimes was staged in Northern Ireland near the end of 1943, and attached to the 82<SUP>nd</SUP> Airborne Division. He jumped with the 507<SUP>th</SUP> (B Company) on D-Day, and upon its return to England in July 1944, the 507<SUP>th</SUP> was permanently assigned to the 17<SUP>th</SUP> Airborne Division (because it was battle-tested, whereas the rest of the 17<SUP>th</SUP> was not). Bois Grimes and the 507<SUP>th</SUP> missed Operation Market Garden (Holland), but jumped across the Rhine in Operation Varsity in March 1945. Grimes had two combat jumps (one with B Company, and one with G Company), although this M-42 likely only saw action in the D-Day jump. The entire 82d and 101<SUP>st</SUP> received the new M-43 combat uniforms in July-August 1944.
The jacket is faintly marked with Grimes' initial "G" and the last 4 digits of his serial number (4799) on the inside of the rear pleat. The M6 scabbard is marked in the same manner. The atlas, arm flag with ties, and the compass came in the same grouping and I am confident they belonged to Grimes as well, but they are not marked or otherwise ID'd. Several of the other items came with another M-42 in my collection, but that jacket and those items are not ID'd.
Here are the photos:
The M-42
I look forward to seeing them in the display.
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