Korean War Marines uniform i bought at garage sale

[Mr.Negativity]

Hi everyone, late last week i bought a complete Marines uniform from the Korean war it has the mans name in it H.J. Hamrick. It came with the cap, pants, 2 jackets and an overcoat all made of wool. Also it came with his decorations and all the Marines pins and a green rope type thing with a metal piece on the end that hangs down on the left shoulder and the campaign ribbons i know the one is a sharpshooter cross but the others im miffed, i need help decyphering them. the only ones i could find were a U.N. one and a presidential unit award. Can anhyone here help me decode the rest of them? I paid 100.00 for the complete uniforms and does anyone know what its actually worth?

[MattS]

Top row:
National Defense, Good Conduct, Navy Presidential Unit Citation
(NOTE: this row is upside down and should be flipped over)
Bottom Row:
Korean Service w/3 battle stars, UN, Korean Presidential Unit Citation (which should be between the Korean and UN ribbons)
See: http://www.grunt.com/ribbons.asp

As far as value, it's hard to say without seeing everything. The "green rope type thing" is a French fourragère awarded to the 5th and 6th Marine Regiments during WW1 by France for being awarded the Croix de Guerre with palm leaf three times. These are the only USMC units authorized to wear that decoration so that should help narrow down where this vet served in Korea!

[Mr.Negativity]

Thanks for helping me out i'm going to put the ribbons the right way. I'm going to hold on to this uniform for a long time since when my grandfather died (Marine in Solomon islands WW2) some other members of my family took his Marine uniform before i got a chance to get it from my grandmother. So this is the next best thing to honor him. I thankyou again for your help.

[MattS]

No problem! Is this the short waist coat (Vandegrift Jacket) or the full 4-pocket coat? Are there stripes on the sleeves? The uniform coats are about $25-30, overcoat about $50, plus the cap (barracks cover/visor cap or garrison cap?) makes it worth what you paid I should think. If all the EGAs are present, that's even better!

[Bill D.]

Personally, $100 for such a complete, identified group to a combat Marine seems reasonable to me.
Congratulations on this great find !
And good for you for your intention to preserve it !

[Mr.Negativity]

thansk Bill and to answer Matts question. The jacket with the decorations is a 2 breast pocket waist length piece then the other jacket is a little longer with 4 pockets 2 brease and 2 hand pockets then theres the long overcoat like trenchcoat length. As far as the cap i'm not sure what its called but im posting pics of everything pants, and jackets and cap. Sorry the pics are kind of shotty i used my blackberry to take them.

[MattS]

Looks like a pretty complete uniform set! I would guess he was 5th Marine Regiment, but that's just a guess.

[Mr.Negativity]

forgotten war research

Is there a way to look up online ( hopefully without paying) finding the records for this man? I'd love to contact him and tell hm i have his uniform and maybe he'd tell me some stories about mowing down thousands of commies banzi charging at them. His name is H.J. Hamrick. I know in like 73 there was a fire that destroyed most Marine/Naval records, because i tried different methods of finding information about my grandfather and got nowhere i even paid and sent a request to Washington and they were of no help. Does any of you great guys have any suggextions to find info on this Korean War hero and my grandfather. Both were Marines and all i know about my grandada is he served in the Solomon Islands campaign mainly Guadalcanal. I was too young to understand hhis stories and now a days i regret it very much. any help from yous would be GREATLY appreciated and thank you all.

[MattS]

I'll PM you some ideas, but start at your local courthouse. Most vets put their discharge papers on record, and they can be obtained by a family member.

[-Ray-]

The historical proverance alone can often outweigh the value of an article itself in most cases as clearly seen.

-Ray-