Need help deciphering P_Dept Uniform

[friscohare]

Hi everyone,

I thought I would post this here at PHF as well:

I just received this Technical Sergeant's uniform I bought off of eBay. It was given to the seller's dad, who was serving as a surgical technician at Madigan General Hospital, Ft. Lewis, WA from 1945-1946. It features the Philippine Department patch on the right sleeve and a Sixth Army patch on the left with 3.5 years worth of overseas bars and two enlistment stripes.

[friscohare]

I need help with two things:



1) Inside the jacket, there are some markings, which, I think, says RS 2882786 and 3447. The 2882786 seems crossed out. Is there an ASN here amongst these characters? If there is, I'd like to research and see if I can find who wore this jacket.



2) I noticed that beneath the 6th Army patch was another patch... a 9th Service Command patch. It seems that the 9th Service Command patch was sewn in at the same time as the Philippine Department patch, since it used the same gray-colored thread to sew onto the jacket. So my questions would be:

a. Why sew a 6th Army patch over the 9th Service Command patch?
b. Why did he have a 9th Service Command patch?
c. Was the owner a POW or a guerrilla or both in the Philippines?


Thanks for reading and I appreciate any help.

[VeeVee]

Wow nice acquisition Friscohare.

All those overseas bars and service stripes... and the Phil. Dept. as a past unit. He most likely was a Bataan vet. I don't know much about the service and command patches. The USMF members would be far far knowledgeable about that part. Congrats on this.

[oklahoma]

Hey Frisco....I am sure I can be of no help, but the "four digit" groupings might be just a laundry/dry cleaners ID numbers, except there is no "initial" preceding the 4 numbers. When I entered the USAF in 1951 we were issued an ink stamp and small ink pad plus a stamp bearing the last four numbers of our regular serial number with the first alphabetic letter of our last name. Mine being P5750. We were instructed to place this number on all our gear. I am thinking that this 4 digit group is just the particular dry cleaner's ID system used for their customers and not regulation ID markings. The RS, I would think is the GI customer who owned this IKE Jacket. The other numbers certainly are a puzzle. "Old Salt" or "Old Sweat"GIs who entered the military in the 1930s,etc had seven digit numbers as far as I know. Those entering the service shortly before the war received 8 digit numbers (as I did in 1951 during the Korean War). I understand that today's military use their respective Social Security Numbers. These groupings may just be various laundry markings. It is intriguing to know more about this soldier. One thing for sure he was in the PI prior to the outbreak of war. The service stripes,etc are exactly the same as those displayed on the sleeve of my niece in law's grandfather's uniform, except for his left shoulder patch which is that of the Philippine Division. I posted a couple of queries about a related patch. This stuff has always interested me. I am sure that I have been of no help and have "muddied" the waters even more. Cheers.

[friscohare]

Thanks guys. I appreciate the help.

For the 9th Service Command/6th Army question, someone at USMF pointed out that the soldier, after returning home from WWII, served in the 9th Service Command. It was then absorbed by the 6th Army when it returned to the US to command the western states. So that's why the uniform has a 6th Army patch on it over the 9th SC.

As for identification, I tried to match and see if anyone on the Pacific POW list had any of the numbers "288" or "2786" or "3477." There were some matches but no one with the initials R.S. I guess we'll never know who it belonged to. There's also a stamp of something at the bottom right corner of the numbers but I'm having trouble reading it.

I'll keep trying and will let you know if I can find a match.