Fall 2026 Militaria and Aviation Auction
Lot 276:
Description
WWII US Army Air Forces M-1944 ‘Ike’ Field Jacket with Theater-Made Bullion 8th Air Force and ETO Headquarters Shoulder Patches, Sergeant’s Chevrons, Six Overseas Service Bars, and Ruptured Duck Discharge Emblem Offered is an original World War II US Army Air Forces enlisted man’s field jacket – the waist-length ‘Ike’ jacket officially designated Jacket, Field, Wool, O.D., adopted in 1944 – dressed with a superb pair of theater-made bullion shoulder insignia: a hand-embroidered ‘Mighty Eighth’ 8th Air Force patch on the right shoulder and a finely worked European Theater of Operations (ETO) Headquarters patch on the left. The jacket is rated to a Sergeant, with sergeant’s chevrons sewn to both sleeves and six gold bullion overseas service bars mounted on the lower left cuff – each bar representing six months of overseas service, for a total of roughly three years abroad – alongside a single service stripe below them. Above the right breast pocket is an embroidered-on-wool Honorable Discharge emblem, the well-known ‘Ruptured Duck, ‘ worn on the uniform after separation as visible proof of wartime service. Taken together, these markings suggest a long-serving airman or ground support NCO whose service crossed key command structures within the ETO. Theater-made bullion insignia of this quality were typically hand-purchased by personnel from tailors in England or on the Continent for wear on dress uniforms, and pieces combining the 8th Air Force with ETO Headquarters on a single jacket are considerably scarcer than single-patch examples on the collector market today. The jacket is a Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot contract example, its partly worn ‘Phila. Quartermaster Depot / Inspected By’ label still legible inside the collar, consistent with wartime production circa 1944-1946. The wool serge body is olive drab, fully lined in tan, and structurally sound. The right-shoulder 8th Air Force patch is worked in tarnished gold and silver bullion wire on a blue ground with a red-and-white star device and visible hand-stitched edging; the left-shoulder ETO Headquarters patch shows fine bullion and silk-thread detailing in the classic shield design, both patches displaying expected wire tarnish and light edge wear consistent with age and theater manufacture. The sergeant’s chevrons are machine-embroidered on wool, as is the Ruptured Duck emblem, and the six overseas bars retain bright gold thread with only minor tarnish. A faint partial ink stamp, possibly reading ‘399,’ is visible on an interior pocket panel but is not sufficiently clear to serve as identification.
Share this lot:
