Interesting 9th Air Force Ike Jacket

[RonR]

This uniform of a member of the US Army Anti Antiaircraft Artillery Command Eastern shows 2 years overseas bars and an ETO ribbon with 5 battle stars and yet no rank.

You would think that there would at least be corporal stripes on this uniform...

....

[bodes]

Looks like an altered service jacket and not an Ike....Perhaps rank was never applied, due to the idea it would have to be removed once the soldier made it stateside?....This of course if he didn't already have civilian clothing to wear instead....Or perhaps the soldier was in a hurry and didn't have time to take it to somebody and have the rank applied?....Other patches (except ruptured duck) and service bars are hand applied, which means he likely did them himself....Bodes

[pauke]

Or simply put together based on all the threads sticking out from a couple of patches?

[huntssurplus]

I think the answer is either what bodes said, or there is another possibility. The CAC collar brass could be the clue to the answer. Not really much space for upward mobility in a CAC unit as they didn't see the type of combat that necessarily led to a lot of guys being killed/wounded which would require new positions and for people to take over. Keep in mind, during WW2 there were only so many positions for certain ranks in each unit (i.e certain number of buck sergeants, staff sergeants, technical sergeants, etc.) There might not have been any billets to fill. Although one would think he would have made at least Pfc. And maybe he did, but like bodes said there isn't much difference between private and private first class, so he might have just not sewn it on on his way home. It's pretty common for returning soldiers to not have sewn all of their insignia on. The fact the uniform is tailored though makes it a bit interesting, But he might have made Pfc after his uniform was tailored, so didn't get his stripes sewn on. I don't think it is a put together though. This is really a $50-60 uniform, maybe a little more on a good day, but not really worth the trouble to be put together. If it was an airborne uniform that would be a different story.

Hunt

[RonR]

Many thanks for your kind replies!

[bodes]

Or simply put together based on all the threads sticking out from a couple of patches?

Looking at the uniform again, I am curious about the collar insignia....Are they post war domed ones?....The WW2 ones I remember seeing are generally flat....Pre/early war were multi-piece with a threaded post and nut...Later ones were single piece stamped with clutch backs....Can anybody confirm or refute this?...Bodes

[RonR]

Pre/early war multi-piece with a threaded post and nut...

............

[pmiya]

It looks like the stars on the ETO ribbon are 2 silver and 3 bronze.

[DALE ELLIS]

Some folks have a hard time keeping stripes!

[Bill D.]

Some folks have a hard time keeping stripes!

I was thinking exactly the same thing. I had items from an enlisted man who served in combat, rose to NCO rank, and who was then was field commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. But a photograph of him when he returned home at the end of the war showed him with PFC stripes on his jacket. He had gotten into a bit of trouble....