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WWI Portrait Photo – Italian Born US Soldier 1st Mobile Veterinary Hospital Farrier

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John Belli in WWI

John Belli in WWI

John Belli was born in Italy in 1895 and traveled to the United States during a big wave of Italian immigration in the early 1900s.  I was lucky enough to purchase a superlative WWI German-shot studio portrait of a helmeted US soldier wearing his gas mask with patches attached to his jacket.  To sweeten the deal, the photo came identified to a John Belli.  A few John Belli’s appeared on ancestry.com, but only one was associated with a veterinarian unit as evidenced by the veterinarian corps collar disc visible in the photo.  A great shot with an interesting back story!

John Belli Service Card

John Belli Service Card

John Belli Draft Card

John Belli Draft Card

WWI Vermont National Guard Photo – 1st VT Infantry Captain Portrait Mystery

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This portrait photo recently arrived from an eBay dealer in New Hampshire and my research bug is in full throttle.  The photo was taken at the Burnham Photo Studio in Burlington, VT in 1917 and depicts a 1st Vermont Infantry Regiment Captain posing for the camera.  I’ve seen similar shots of other officers taken at the same studio.  Not much to go on in terms of an identification, but I feel that a little hard work will pay off.  I should be able to narrow down all the captains in the 1st VT and work from there.  Most officers would have their portraits listed in unit histories, so my journey may take me in search of obscure tomes.  All the more fun!

1stVT063ab

Here’s the breakdown of the distribution from the 1st Vermont Infantry Regiment:

101st Ammunition Train, 26th Division

1 Major, 6 Captains, 3 First Lieutenants, 3 Second Lieutenants, 700 Enlisted Men

101st Machine Gun Battalion, 26th Division

2 First Lieutenants, 2 Second Lieutenants, 197 Enlisted Men

102nd Machine Gun Battalion, 26th Division

1 First Lieutenant, 2 Second Lieutenants, 212 Enlisted Men

103rd Machine Gun Battalion, 26th Division

2 First Lieutenants, 1 Second Lieutenant, 229 Enlisted Men

With this info in hand, I’ve been able to narrow down our sitter as a Captain who is most likely an officer with the 101st Ammunition Train of the 26th Division.  I’ve located a list of the captains of the 1st VT who were transferred to the 101st Ammo Train:

Captain Charles E. Pell, Co. B, St.Albans

Captain Haroll M. Howe, Co.F, Northfield

Captain Dowe E. McMath, Co.H, Montpelier

Captain William N. Hudson, Co.M, Burlington

Captain Richard T. Corey, Co.L, Newport

Captain John L. Shanley, Co.G, Winooski

Our sitter is one of the above-listed men.  Now to get down to some ancestry.com research……………..

I started with Captain Pell and quickly found a portrait of him.  His long ear lobes are quite distinct and are not a match for our sitter.

Captain Pell

Captain Pell

Captain Howe was next and I was able to find a shot from his 1911 Norwich University year book.  Not sure on the ID, so I will continue to search……..

Captain Howe

Captain Howe

Next step – locate a copy of the 101st Ammunition Train unit history.  Hopefully officer photos are listed!

WWI Vermont RPPC Photo – Herbert L. French of Stratton/Lononderry, VT 1918 France 78th Div.

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WWI Photos of Vermonters are hard to find and I continually search for superlative examples at flea markets and yard sales.  This past May I was lucky enough to encounter a Vermonter dealer at a Massachusetts flea market.  Low and behold, the seller had a fantastic image of a WWI Vermonter for sale!   Herbert L. French is identified as being from Stratton, VT and as being a member of the 307th Field Artillery of the 78th Division.

Herbert L. French

Herbert L. French

VTFrench506

WWI Vermont Roster Entry

WWI Vermont Roster Entry

Misidentified WWI Veteran Grave Card

Misidentified WWI Veteran Grave Card

WWI Draft Card

WWI Draft Card

WWII Draft Card

WWII Draft Card

WWII American Nurse Corps Overseas Cap Identified – Lt. Frances M. Gleason of Washington

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This cap comes my way via eBay; it isn’t in the best condition, but it was inexpensive and came with the possibility of a solid research piece.  I bid knowing the item was identified with a short, atypical name with a military rank (Lt.) to reference.  Only $21.00, this US Army Nurse’s cap is a solid buy considering the amount of information I was able to tease out of a simple name written inside a cap.
2013-06-19 19.37.50
2013-06-19 19.38.00
The nurse’s name was both stamped as well as inscribed on the interior silk lined interior.  I was able to determine that it belonged to a Frances Kain in 1944-1945.  The cap is an overseas cap, so the veteran clearly served overseas.  Nurses were required to be at least 25 years – this gave me a general birth year to search for.  A quick ancestry.com search for a Frances Kain turned up a Frances Kain born in Pennsylvania in 1919.  The birthyear and the name matched perfectly.  A school directory subsearch on ancestry yielded PortraitsofWar gold with a solid hit for a Harrisburg, PA nurses training school.
Frances M. Kain

Frances M. Kain

From there I did a search for marriage records to figure out her name later in life and found that she married David H. Gleason in April of 1951.
Kain Gleason Marriage

Kain Gleason Marriage

From here I was able to confirm my hunch that she was the owner of the cap.  Her obituary and grave record show that she was a WWII veteran who served in the ETO as a Lt. in the Army Nurse Corps.

On FindaGrave.com I was also able to find a wartime photo of Frances:
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And a copy of her 2009 obituary:
Frances M. Gleason

Frances M. Gleason, age 90, passed away August 14, 2009 in Mount Vernon, WA.

She is survived by daughter, Beverly (Dr. Marshall) Anderson of Camano Island; and grandson Kristopher Anderson of Arlington.

She was a World War II Veteran of the Army Nurse Corp. serving in the U.S and European Theater. She worked as a nursing instructor for the Practical Nursing Program at Columbia Basin Community College in Pasco for 21 years.

At her request no public services will be held.

Arrangements are under the care of Hawthorne Funeral Home, Mount Vernon.

WWI Art – 20th Forestry Engineers Wartime Newsletter “The Railsplitter”

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20th057

The 20th Engineers are one of those obscure service units that served overseas in WWI that I love researching.  They saw no combat and spent the entire war swinging axes and operating sawmills, but their labors provided the railties, barracks, firewood, and poles that kept the war running.  This wartime newsletter header makes reference to Abe Lincoln’s early life as a rail splitter and juxtaposes it with the wartime president(Wilson).

Here’s the full scan of the handbill dated May 23rd, 1918:

20th057 20th058

WWII Original June 6th, 1944 D-Day Snapshot off Omaha Beach – 62nd Armored Field Artillery

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The 62nd Armored Field Artillery landed on Omaha Beach on June 6th, 1944 and earned a Presidential Unit Citation for it’s actions that day.  A recent eBay purchase provides us with a view the 62nd saw that day before the delayed landing at 1830.  This photo is a rare glimpse of the activity off the shore of Omaha Beach on that fateful day.  Note the puffs of smoke and landing craft zipping across the waves.  Although not unheard of, June 6th landing photos are a holy grail amongst collectors.  Enjoy!

DDAY376a

DDAY377

 

WWII in Color – 1944 SBD Dauntless Marine Dive Bombers VMSB-332 w/ WWII Marine Pilot Commentary

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The color of WWII is something lost on our generation; WWII has been a war fought in black and white for everyone but actual WWII veterans who witnessed it firsthand.  One of my goals here at PortraitsofWar is to collect color slides from WWII and make them accessible to those who don’t know it exists.  Yes, color film was shot in 35mm(and sometimes larger format) and was used on a somewhat regular basis by shutterbug soldiers during WWII. My collection is roughly 500:1, black and white : color.    To find a complete collection of color slides is like hitting the WWII photography jackpot.  In this case, I was able to pick up a small selection of color slides from a Marine dive bomber.  Although I was only able to snag 7 from a grouping of nearly 200, I am still happy to pass along the images to interested parties.

From the collection of Walter Huff.

Recent Update: Captions Added – WWII Marine Corps Veteran Pilot Adds Commentary – Thanks Paul! 

Please enjoy the colors of WWII as they were meant to be seen! 

047: Standard permanent issue leather jacket with fur collar. Name plate design same as mine: Wings, name, and service (in this case USMCR).

049: I’ll bet the farm this photo was taken at Bogue Field, N.C. Dec 10 +/-, 1943. Not much snow in Eastern N.C. I was on a trip to Buffalo, NY to ferry a R5C (C-46) from the factory to Cherry Point. Got back to find the engine block in the auto had frozen and cracked.

051: Nice shot. I do believe the engine is running. Hmmmm. I wonder why? Should have been a no-no with no one in cockpit!

053: I do not remember pilots wearing side arm stateside. With the pistol (issued to all Marine officers) I’m guessing 1943-44. Later pilots were issued revolvers but priority was to unit in combat area (Pac). I had a .45 pistol until 1948 (China and Eva, Hawaii). Got my first .38 revolver in Korea 1950.

054: This ain’t NC!!! Must be CA hills. Not combat area. Check out those pristine parachutes! The gauntlets (flight gloves) were of softest lamb skin and covered lower half (more or less) of forearm.

044: Not Marine Corps shirts, but Navy. Marine officer shirts were hard to come by. I know because I wore Navy shirts, too. Pocket flap designs are different. Marines never wear field scarfs (i.e. ties) tucked into shirt. After WWII a clasp was designed.

Korean War 35mm Color Slide – 18th Maintenance Squadron Patch on Leather Jacket Korea 1951

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Color slides from the first years of the Korean War are some of my favorites.  35mm Color photography was in full swing and lots of soldiers/servicemen were snapping shots to send back home.  In this case, we see a member of the 18th Maintenance Squadron posing in his leather jacket complete with squadron patch.  The patch appears to show a white P-51 being sloppily repaired by a mechanic.  Maybe someone has a squadron patch scan to add to this post?

 

The man in the photo is named Robert Duffy, a WWII P-47 pilot who crashed near the town of Le Mesnilbus in 1944.  Click here to read his story!

Spectacular WWII Aircraft Nose Art DVD Documentary – Interviews with Veterans of the 8th USAAF

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I just came across a wonderful DVD from a British documentary film company that fits right in here at PortraitsofWar.  Filmed and edited by Whirl Wind Productions in the UK, this documentary follows the lives of WWII nose artists as well as the men who flew those famous warbirds.  Check it out and make sure to order a copy!

http://www.noseartfilms.co.uk/