Wwii Us Army M42 Jump Jacket Named to Officer Ww2

This Original M1942 Airborne Jump jacket in Olive Drab #3 offered in excellent condition. The coat consists of four front patch pockets with two button snaps on each top flap, with 2 rows on the pockets, to secure different sized items. The jacket also does have the dual-zippered knife pocket located on the upper lapel which was designed to contain a switchblade pocket knife, used to cut the parachute rigging if entangled. The top two pockets were also angled inward to make items easier to retrieve with the opposite hand. The shoulders have white cloth Captain's Bars and to the shoulder is a 1st Allied Airborne patch that is period applied. The jacket is identified to the collar with the initial of his last name T and the last four of his Army Service Number 3950. White cloth manufactures tag is present but is washed out and difficult to read. Roughly a size 38R. The jacket is in excellent condition. The original belt is present. The officer's name was Major Robert M. Thompson O-453950 of the Field Artillery Headquarters US Berlin District First Allied Airborne Army European Theater and was from Minneapolis Minnesota. and participated in the Ardennes, Rhineland and Central Europe Campaigns. There is also a copy of his DD214. Excellent. Due to the somewhat fragile nature of the uniform, the M1942 pattern was often reinforced with thicker, tougher canvas on the elbows, crotch and knees. However, this example was never reinforced, indicating early issue. The M42 was worn by Paratroops assigned to Airborne units. The M42 was eventually phased out in favor of the M1943 Uniform which was a darker green, OD #7. Despite this, various individuals chose to keep their M42s in order to show their veteran status. The First Allied Airborne Army was an Allied formation formed on 2 August 1944 by the order of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force. The formation was part of the Allied Expeditionary Force and controlled all Allied airborne forces in Western Europe from August 1944 to May 1945. These included the U.S. IX Troop Carrier Command, the U.S. XVIII Airborne Corps, which controlled the 17th, 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions and a number of independent airborne units, all British airborne forces including the 1st and 6th Airborne Division plus the Polish 1st Parachute Brigade. From the time of its creation until the end of World War II, the formation commanded the Allied airborne forces that participated in the Allied advance through North-West Europe, including Operation Market Garden in September 1944, repelling the German counter-offensive launched during the Battle of the Bulge between December 1944 and January 1945, and Operation Varsity in March 1945. After the surrender of Nazi Germany, the formation was deactivated, the constituent units reverting to their national armies on 20 May 1945. Recommendation for creation: General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force believed that a unified command was required with authority to coordinate all airborne and troop carrier units, direct airborne operations and command attached army, naval and air force units. The organization would be based on the model of a modified corps headquarters and be commanded by a high-ranking officer of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). On 20 May 1944, a sub-section of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) recommended that all British and American airborne forces be unified under a single formation; troop carrier units, however, would still remain independent and under the control of the Allied Expeditionary Air Force (AEAF). This recommendation was sent to 12th Army Group, 21st Army Group and the AEAF.Opposition and support: The recommendation to create a unified airborne army was criticized and opposed by the Chief of Staff of 12th Army Group, Major General Leven Cooper Allen. Allen argued that the larger number of American airborne troops, the differences in equipment and staff between British and American formations, and the fact that the available transport aircraft only had the capacity to carry the total number of American airborne troops and not British as well, all meant that there was no need for a unified command for both American and British airborne forces. The Royal Air Force, was an independent organization, unlike the USAAF, and senior British airborne commanders were apprehensive about having an Air Force officer command soldiers, in case the RAF could then use this at a later date as precedent to command British airborne troops. Further objections were raised by officers of the AEAF, regarding the administrative problems of assigning RAF units to the proposed combined headquarters. Air Chief Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory, commander-in-chief of the AEAF, argued that the original recommendation should be followed – unifying American and British airborne forces but leaving troop carrier units