We have been very busy helping to give many individual's WWII-era items a positive veteran "ID" and in many cases putting a face with a uniform. We have had great luck finding veterans in either unit photos or in college/high school yearbooks. Although it is not a photo of them in that uniform, it still creates a lasting tribute to the veteran to have a photo of them displayed with their previously used militaria. Please enjoy these examples below.
This uniform belonging to Major Larkin H. Langford. Larkin graduated in 1942 from the University of Missouri before attending OCS at Fort Sill, OK. He was assigned to the 1st Field Artillery Battalion, part of the 6th Division. Of course, the 6th fought in the Phillipines and New Guinea. Larkin earned the Bronze Star and Purple Heart medals along with an invasion arrowhead for his campaign ribbon (Luzon?). He was discharged at war's end as a major and after returning home traveled to Arizona where he taught beef production techniques to veterans at the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation. Returning to Missouri Larkin worked as superintendent of the North Missouri Center of the University of Missouri until retirement. Larkin passed away at his home in Fayette, MO on 20 January 2011 at the age of 91.
The second ID'd uniform belonged to a 83rd Infantry Division Veteran in the 736th Tank Battalion. The 736th was formed from a group of specially selected men trained initially with a top-secret tank-mounted weapon code-named the Canal Defense Light. Dubbed the "Gizmo" by the soldiers who operated it, the CDL was a 13-million candlepower searchlight mounted on a specialized tank for the purpose of illuminating the area at night to dazzle the enemy with its flickering light. Supposed to change the course of the war, most of these were eventually left to rust where they bogged down later in France and the 736th was reorganized as a standard tank battalion. The battalion was attached to the 83rd Division from 6 February - 29 July 1945. This ike jacket and dog tags belonged to Sgt Richard E. Kreider of Palmyra, PA. For this individual I was able to find a photo, his tombstone, some veteran's paperwork, and also some newspaper articles on him.
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