Fall 2026 Militaria and Aviation Auction
Lot 272:
Description
WWII USAAF Sergeant’s Khaki Service Shirt with Theater-Made CBI and Hap Arnold Patches, DFC & Air Medal Ribbon Bar, and Partial Laundry Mark "8445" Offered is a World War II U.S. Army Air Forces enlisted summer service khaki cotton shirt, distinguished by a pair of finely hand-embroidered theater-made shoulder insignia and a well-earned ribbon bar. The right shoulder carries a China-Burma-India (CBI) shoulder sleeve patch worked in heavy silk floss on twill, while the left shoulder bears a theater-made USAAF "Hap Arnold" winged-star device above hand-embroidered sergeant’s chevrons in silver-toned thread. A partial ink laundry mark reading "8445" survives on the interior hem, a small but evocative trace of the original owner that has not been further traced to service records; no separate biography has been located, and the story here rests entirely in the insignia and decorations themselves. The soldier’s breast ribbons speak to genuine aerial combat service in the CBI: the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with oak leaf cluster denoting a second award, the Army Good Conduct Medal, and the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with attached battle stars, mounted above the left pocket. An Army Presidential Unit Citation ribbon is worn over the right breast pocket, marking assignment to a unit cited for extraordinary heroism. Together these awards place the wearer within the air war fought over "The Hump, " the treacherous Himalayan air corridor that supplied Allied and Chinese forces across the CBI theater, an undertaking plagued by monsoon weather, high terrain, and Japanese fighter interception. Airmen and ground crew stationed in India and China frequently turned to local tailors and embroiderers to produce vividly colored, hand-worked insignia unobtainable through standard quartermaster channels, and the CBI patch and Hap Arnold device on this shirt are strong, well-executed examples of that tradition. The shirt is of standard two-pocket khaki cotton twill construction with a period-correct collar and button cuffs. The CBI patch, worked in red, white, and blue silk on a dark twill ground with a Nationalist Chinese sun device above the shield, remains vivid with tight, raised stitching. The left-shoulder USAAF insignia shows finely graduated gold and silver embroidered wings flanking a red-centered star on blue twill, still bright and fully intact. Silver-toned sergeant’s chevrons are hand-embroidered directly below in matching thread. The five-ribbon bar above the left pocket is firmly sewn with bright, correctly sequenced colors, and the Presidential Unit Citation ribbon is separately mounted over the right pocket; a small metal device, likely a private-purchase pin, is affixed to the left pocket flap. A visually strong, theater-attributed CBI grouping whose hand-worked insignia and combat ribbon bar bring the hard-fought air war over the Hump vividly to life.
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