USMC M-422A named to Bougainville and Philippines Pilot

[bazelot]

i just acquired the flight helmet, pictures, uniform and M-422A jacket of John Edson Kalal who was a VMSB-133 pilot in WWII. Kalal was in the Pacific from September 2nd 1943 to May 16th 1945. The squadron was based at Bougainville starting August 24th 1944. In early 1945 Kalal was part of the Philippine assault operations at least until March 1945.

The jacket:

THe Fried Osterman M-422A jacket in great condition. Leather is perfect with wonderful patina:
















The Uniform:













The helmet:









Pictures of Kalal on Bougainville:

Top Left:


Right:


Top Right:

 

[dujardin]

nice... splendid

great grouping

thnaks for sharing

 

[Andrew]

Great grouping, and really nice jacket. I wonder if it went with him on that tour?

I've recently been working on a possible project up on Bougainville and i'm hoping on a remote chance to get a trip there. It's got a really rich and relatively unexplored WWII military history due to the trouble of recent years.

 

[Anonymous]

thanks for posting. nicest FO I 've seen

 

[TankBuster]

Very nice set. The jacket is really nice.

 

[Stony]

Super nice grouping that should be in my collection.

 

[bebel]

Such groups are not too common with a beautiful jacket as this one. Thank you for sharing with us.
Franck

 

[Peter Graham]

Handsome grouping Tom. The helmet and goggles are in particularly nice shape. You just keep turning 'em up. Andrew, that's an exciting prospect. I hope it works out for you. I'd love to visit some of the Pacific battlefields but it's just too far away and too expensive. Make sure to take loads of pics.

 

[bazelot]

Thanks guys. The jacket is indeed pretty sweet. I am really glad I got everything together.

 

[bazelot]

I just received some more stuff from the family. This really completes the grouping well (especially since I now have all the straps to go with the uniform itself)

Extra nameplates with ribbons:


Captain's bar:


His original dog tags:


Best of all are his Air Medal original citations for the Air medal and Gold Stars, air medal and bars with stars:






Negatives of pictures when he become 1st Lt


A bus ticket from Apalit to San Fabian in the Philippines. I reallly wish I knew the story behind this one but it was in the pocket of his flight jacket:

 

[Peter Graham]

The icing on the cake Tom. Fantastic. Love the dog tags.

 

[TankBuster]

It's rounding out into a nice group now. Great to have those other items.