Holy Smokes!!! Another Super Score Today!!!

[a2jacketpatches]

If members are sending PMs asking you to break it up, I'll throw my hat in the ring to keep it all together. I'd like to see what else shows up but consider this a tentative offer IF it's kept together. I know profit is certainly a motive and I dont want to upset other members but keeping historical items grouped is very important to many of us.
Dave

Got a wing badge and more collar insignia today, also, two pics. One of him wearing a choc garrison cap ( can't tell if it's the one I have with piping, but i did get the only two caps in the house, the other pic he's wearing the same Ike with what I assume to be the wing badge I have, no ribbons. To be brutally honest, I'd take no less than 2K for the entire grouping. Otherwise, I'm very fond of the bush jacket, tan garrison, pilot log, Ike, photos, and a few other items as keepers, and selling the other (not so specific to him) items in order to get my money back and a little more investing cash. The 2K is only if I have to wave bye bye to it all, I do hope that everyone knows I'm not one to bust everything up to squeeze every nickel out of it. History is very important to me and always has been.

 

[dmar836]

Quite a wise choice IMO

 

[a2jacketpatches]

Does that mean you're buying the lot? It will all stay together if so, I'll even throw in the Lindberg P-47N model kit (partial) that he bought in 1952.

 

[dmar836]

Break it up! Kidding, but 2K+ might be a little ambitious without an A-2 in the lot, boxed medals, etc. About the only way to know value would be Ebay. Things aren't going for nearly as much in militaria shows, private sales, etc. so if you truly care to keep it together but want big money I would research it a bit and post it there - who knows? I might be completely wrong on value.
Unfortunately, I couldn't make an offer over retail just to trump breaking it up. Hate to see such things happen but those of us who collect USAAF see it daily.
Certainly photograph the items separate from the other grouping and individually. As said, I don't think it would be inappropriate to restore the Ike with the flyer's own things. Too bad his dog tags and photos were pilfered. They are important to a grouping and that must have been frustrating to see.
If you keep it, it's a nice little group to have and will likely only increase in value.
Great find and let us know what you do.

Dave

 

[dav3469]

An excellent find, and hope the group can stay together. I am happy that there are many like minded folks who want to preserve these types of historical items. What saddens or more accurately makes me "wonder" is how families let this stuff go. I realize not all veterans have families, or that some may have actually outlived say a small family. But in most cases there are family members out there. I guess cash is more precious than family history. See this stuff on the "pawn/pickers" shows all the time.

One of my grandfathers was a lifetime farmer. I got off the farm as soon as I could. Don't really want to be a farmer again. But if I came across a grouping of items say from his time as chairman of the Co-op, or other farm related photos and stuff, I would not part with it. People continue to amaze me sometimes.

Again, great find on this group. Glad there are folks out there willing to keep this stuff out of the landfill. (Which is where my other grandfathers D-1 went when it was considered old junk after the estate sale-my father was not present when the brain trust made that decision).

 

[a2jacketpatches]

An excellent find, and hope the group can stay together. I am happy that there are many like minded folks who want to preserve these types of historical items. What saddens or more accurately makes me "wonder" is how families let this stuff go. I realize not all veterans have families, or that some may have actually outlived say a small family. But in most cases there are family members out there. I guess cash is more precious than family history. See this stuff on the "pawn/pickers" shows all the time.

One of my grandfathers was a lifetime farmer. I got off the farm as soon as I could. Don't really want to be a farmer again. But if I came across a grouping of items say from his time as chairman of the Co-op, or other farm related photos and stuff, I would not part with it. People continue to amaze me sometimes.

Again, great find on this group. Glad there are folks out there willing to keep this stuff out of the landfill. (Which is where my other grandfathers D-1 went when it was considered old junk after the estate sale-my father was not present when the brain trust made that decision).

This guy had no family, his lawyer had the estate liquidated. Some neighbors were interested enough to grab a few pictures, but they are the only people who cared. When I walked in, the first things I grabbed were the pilot log, complete uniform items, and crushers. I had all in hand before the next serious military hunter walked through the door. I've seen him around quite a bit, and I'm sure he could care less about history. Most are in it for the money, and actually, I think money is an important factor to everyone. I consider myself in that boat in a limited capacity. I have to sell some of the items in order to move on doing this. I simply don't have the resources to hoard everything I get from an estate ( money, space, etc. ) I do feel it's OK to sell my australia and India Pocket guides, a single crusher, other booklets, and things that were common to most servicemen. However, a complete uniform should have the log, discharge copy (just realized I had it) P-47 certificate, and anything else that is very specific to Lt. Glen Shew. If I hadn't been there to grab this stuff, it all would be in the process of being scattered all over the world by now. I understand how others may feel the common items should stay with everything as well, but I simply cannot do that. My way is intended to preserve and continue to preserve the items that are relevant to a GI's history. My living is made from my patch business and I don't count on selling these original items for profit. But I have to make sense of what I'm doing.

A guy once said " I don't give a f**k about the history, it's all about the money and I have kids to feed" while we were waiting for a sale to open. I said, "if you learned a little more about the history and were actually interested in it, you would do better hunting for it". He stuck to not giving a f**k and smiled while saying so. The sale ad had photos of modern boxed medals, a Japanese battle flag loaded with hand written characters, a uniform loaded with bullion, and a few documents. So I threw a Jedi mind f**k into this dumass stating that I was here for the medals. He went straight for them (being first in line) allowing me to grab the flag, uniform, and documents on the other side of the room. It really burns me guys like this, and I do whatever I can to limit their success. He threw a sarcastic "looks like you got what you really wanted" on the way out. So I said " That's because I do give a F**k" I ended up selling the uniform and documents together with the flag to another collector.

Also, just last week, i had a handful of common U.S. embroidered patches with a theater made Unit patch and ribbon rack named to a Vietnam Vet on ebay. Had an offer to buy just the theater made for 60- I declined so the group would stay together and got 60- for everything when the auction ended. Didn't matter because I felt better that this group was intact and a missing unit patch would be considered a hole in my opinion.

Sorry to be so long winded about my beliefs here, but I just want all to know that if I wasn't doing things this way, I couldn't do it at all. And because I am there, 9 times out of 10, I save a guys history from being erased.

 

[TankBuster]

Good for you! You seem to be going about it all the right way. Keeping items together is great but the reality is it just doesn't happen very often. That's why nice complete groupings will always sell for a premium!
The Bush jacket in this set is great. Good luck with it all.

 

[a2jacketpatches]

Well, just talked with my mechanic, the old truck is leaking coolant in two places after my long trek last week up and over the mountains two times. So Lt. Shew and his memories are to find a new home quicker than I wanted them to. The grouping is very nice with what I choose to include, a few un-named items were seperated, and there's even a couple of new items that more than make up for what I sold seperately ( discharge papers, two photos in uniform, and the original wings & collar insignia to complete the Ike ) One photo even shows him wearing the Ike. IMO, this grouping is as solid as anyone could want. I'll post a link to the listing shortly.

 

[dmar836]

Deleted.

 

[a2jacketpatches]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 2512wt_905

 

[unclegrumpy]

Sorry to hear you have to part with this grouping so soon!

In looking at your auction, I think it would help if you added what Squadron and Group he flew with to the description. Also, it would be good to add a picture of the back of his discharge showing his awards and where he was from.

Good Luck!

 

[a2jacketpatches]

Actually, I have nothing that tells Squadron or Group, and the discharge is as you see it, nothing on the back. I tried googling him as well without results, he is from Long Beach CA, that's about all I can offer.

I'm a little bummed that it's going, but unfortunately I have no choice. Got a lot going on right now, planning a move, and now the old truck having problems. Gotta sell everything I can to make it all happen painlessly. Good thing is that I had fun doing it and it's all there to help. Easy come easy go, someone else can have a turn with it.

 

[unclegrumpy]

I did a bit of searching, and found Shew was with the 90th Fighter Squadron, 80th Fighter Group and flew out of India.

 

[a2jacketpatches]

Cool, how did you find that out? I can never find that kind of info when I go looking. Is there a certain site you use? Thanks a lot, I'll post it right away. You know this new info makes it all the more interesting and hard to let it go.

 

[unclegrumpy]

Cool, how did you find that out?

To be honest, it was a bit of luck. I have also done a lot of these searches...both successfully and unsuccessfully, so that probably comes into play as well.

The next step in trying to sort out what Shew did would be to look into the Squadron and Group histories, which I did not do. You are lucky to have both his flight log and discharge, so you know the time frame he was overseas. The flight log would tell a lot of his story, though the page you show looks like it was during his final training, rather than combat. If you have the combat entries, then you could overlay them with the missions the Squadron/Group was flying.

One other thing I found was he had crashed a P-47 in August of 1945 in India. There is going to be a report that would go with that, but you would have to write away to get it.

Maybe you should consider fixing your coolant leaks yourself, and keeping the Group. I bet if your truck is ten to thirty years old, all you need is a new radiator and hoses. I just did one on my old Honda, and if you get the parts online it is pretty cheap....and not hard to do.

 

[a2jacketpatches]

I'll look into the log a bit more and try searching as you sas you say. Much appreciated.

I do fix what I can for the most part unless it's cheap enough to avoid a huge hassle or can't justify buying tools. Hoses and radiator my first thoughts as well. But it turned out to be a gasket from the metal spout that the Radiator hose connects to. Then another leak from the timing cover gasket, I sure hope it ends there, already 300- plus. A lot of parts to be removed and I don't even have a parking space to work in at this shoe box I call an apartment, gotta park a block away in a lot. Another reason for selling my stuff, looking to move towrd the CA desert, lots of 2 and 3 BR houses for rent with garage for the same money I pay here. Peace and quiet as well. In Santa Ana on Broadway right now, noisey, busy, crazy. I can pick up my shop and move anywhere as long as there's internet and a PO.

 

[unclegrumpy]

I hope the move works out!

Also hope that there is not too much more pain involved with the truck. Usually, under the "metal spout" you mentioned is the thermostat, and when they go bad you can get some leaks. I bet you are already getting a new one of those.

I am not suggesting you add this on now, but if you keep having problems, I would considerer getting a new radiator. They corrode and plug up with age. Somehow I have the feeling that you have a Toyota, and those rascals, like their other Japanese brethren, have radiators with a life expectancy of around 15 years.

Also, why not post a few pages of the flight log....maybe some pages that are past the one you have on eBay....

 

[a2jacketpatches]

Will do on the flight log.

Dodge Dakota 98, while it's apart, having him replace the water pump and thermostat rather than pay another hundred bucks some time in the future to pull it all apart again. New pump 50 bucks and Thermostat is cheap, labor a different story.

 

[unclegrumpy]

Sounds like you have things under control, and hopefully that will be it. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you!

 

[dmar836]

The market has spoken at $699 for the group.

His trousers and shirts sold for $27 ish. How much did the second crusher bring(forgot to mark it)? What happened to the large plaque(member sale?) and other "nonspecific" items? Trying to add up the net.

I was not a bidder on any of these items as it represented a broken up grouping but sure glad I didn't go for that $2000 offer here!