Fall 2026 Militaria and Aviation Auction
Lot 278:
Description
WWII U.S. Army M-1944 Wool Field ("Ike") Jacket with 101st Airborne Division Shoulder Sleeve Insignia, Combat Infantryman Badge, Croix de Guerre Fourragere, and ETO Campaign Ribbon Bar, Merit Clothing Co. for the Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot, dated May 12, 1945 Offered is an original World War II U.S. Army M-1944 wool field jacket – the so-called "Eisenhower" or "Ike" jacket – dressed as it would have appeared on a combat veteran of the 101st Airborne Division returning from the European Theater of Operations. The jacket retains its period-applied 101st Airborne "Screaming Eagles" shoulder sleeve insignia with attached Airborne tab, gilt U.S. and crossed-rifles Infantry branch collar disks, a Combat Infantryman Badge, a woven three-place ribbon bar, and a braided fourragere looped at the left shoulder. The jacket is government-marked and dated: the interior pocket label reads "Jackets, Field, Wool, O.D., " Stock No. 55-J-384-595, size 36-R, manufactured by Merit Clothing Co., Incorporated, under Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot contract dated May 12, 1945, against the May 10, 1944 pattern. The 101st Airborne shoulder patch is a wool-embroidered example with its attached Airborne tab, hand-sewn to the left shoulder, though moth damage has opened a hole through the tab’s loop. Gilt U.S. and crossed-rifles collar disks sit on the lapels, and the pin-back Combat Infantryman Badge is mounted above the left breast pocket alongside the three-place ribbon bar. The fourragere is a braided red-and-green cord with a brass fitting, looped through the left shoulder seam and running down the back. A genuine attic-find Ike jacket wearing the eagle of the 101st Airborne, a Combat Infantryman Badge, and a fourragere earned in some of the ETO’s hardest fighting – moth damage and all, an honest and displayable piece of airborne history.
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