Fall 2026 Militaria and Aviation Auction
Lot 259:
Description
Named WWII 5th Infantry Division ‘Correspondent U.S. Army’ Service Coat and Archive of Technician Fifth Grade Arthur T. Pope, Jr., ASN 31 048 603, 705th Ordnance Light Maintenance Company – European Theater 1943-1945, MOS ‘Writer Military Subjects 274’ Offered is the named wool service coat and an extensive personal-paper archive of Technician Fifth Grade Arthur T. Pope, Jr. of New Haven and Branford, Connecticut, who served in the 705th Ordnance Light Maintenance Company in support of the 5th Infantry Division (‘Red Diamond’) in the European Theater of Operations. No separate published biography of Pope has been located; his story survives instead in his own official papers and a remarkable run of personal writings and photographs spanning more than four decades. His WD AGO Form 53-55 Enlisted Record and Report of Separation confirms induction on 28 June 1941, departure for the European Theater on 20 September 1943, return to the United States on 18 July 1945, and discharge at Fort Knox on 12 October 1945 – and, most distinctively, records his military occupational specialty as ‘Writer Military Subjects 274.’ That designation gives context to the coat’s unusual embroidered ‘Correspondent U.S. Army’ arc rocker, worn on an Ordnance enlisted man’s uniform tied to a front-line infantry division. Pope’s separation form lists no assigned battles or campaigns, but the archive suggests his duties ran toward unit journalism and morale publications rather than the motor-maintenance work of a typical Ordnance technician, producing or contributing to irreverent mimeographed unit newsletters such as the surviving issues of the ‘Mudburg Mirror’ and ‘Intimate Reflections.’ A 7 February 1944 letter from Capt. Delbert E. McCune of the 893rd Ordnance H.A.M. Company, Ordnance Depot O-646, notifies Pope’s mother of his Good Conduct Award, praising his ‘exemplary conduct and devotion to duty.’ The archive extends well beyond the war: postwar clippings and a 1981 Branford Land Trust certificate document Pope’s later career as a town conservationist, publicist, and historian, while a lengthy handwritten reflection headed ‘Wicked Weds 4-4-68’ – composed, by Pope’s own account, in the hours between hearing that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been shot and the news that he had died – offers a raw, unfiltered piece of American social commentary. A presidential memorial certificate honoring Pope’s memory, signed in facsimile by President George H. W. Bush, indicates his death fell within the 1989-1993 administration. The olive-drab wool serge four-pocket service coat retains gilt U.S. and Ordnance branch collar disks, a red-diamond 5th Infantry Division shoulder sleeve insignia, four gold overseas service bars on the left cuff denoting twenty-four months of foreign service, a wreathed device on the opposite cuff consistent with a Meritorious Unit Commendation, an Honorable Discharge ‘Ruptured Duck’ patch above the right breast pocket, a three-ribbon bar over the left pocket corresponding to the European-African-Middle Eastern Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, and American Defense Service Medal listed on his separation papers, and the named embroidered blue-and-gold ‘Correspondent U.S. Army’ arc rocker on the left shoulder. Original brass-tone buttons are intact throughout, and the insignia retain bright color with secure stitching. The accompanying archive includes Pope’s original WD AGO Form 53-55 separation record, his Honorable Discharge certificate, a 1952 Armed Service Discharge record, the 1944 Good Conduct commendation letter, numerous period photographs of Pope in uniform and with family, surviving issues of the ‘Mudburg Mirror’ and ‘Intimate Reflections’ newsletters, his 1968 reflection on Dr. King’s assassination, the facsimile-signed presidential memorial certificate, the 1981 Branford Land Trust tribute, and later newspaper clippings documenting his civic work. The coat shows only light, honest wear with no significant moth damage, tears, or staining apparent; the paper archive shows typical age toning, folding, and some edge wear, but remains complete and fully legible. A compelling named ETO archive that unites a rare ‘Correspondent U.S. Army’ shoulder tab with a soldier’s own voice, from mimeographed unit humor to an unguarded reckoning with the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
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