C036256 U.S. WWI PFC'S OVERSEAS CAP, SERVICE TUNIC, BREECHES & DOCUMENTS.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: An olive drab wool "wedge" or "garrison" cap with a pinned together expansion fold along the crown and whose fold-down side panels slope towards the front edge where they are sewn, crossed-over, together. A screw-back, bronze, 1" diameter cap badge with "US" against a cross-hatched background is affixed to the cap’s left forward edge. To the interior, the olive drab cloth sweatband is intact and lightly soiled with the hand written name "Chas. A. Burt" with what appears to be his enlistment number below. A high quality, olive drab, M1912 wool whipcord tunic, with a stand-up collar fastened by two hooks and eyes. The four front patch pockets have button down scalloped flaps. The five large front closure buttons, and the four small pocket and two small shoulder strap buttons, are all of bronze with an embossed American eagle. The button are embossed with the manufactures name to the reverse, the large "R.Liebmann MFG Co. Newark N.J." and the small "R.L.MFG Co. Newark N.J.". To the right side of the stand-up collar is a 1" diameter bronze disk with "U.S." embossed against a cross-hatched background. It is mounted to its reverse by a screw-back post. To the left side of the collar is a disk in the same material and dimensions, upon which is embossed a pair of crossed muskets with "344" above and "MG" below, all, again, against a cross-hatched background and indicates the 344^th Infantry Machine Gun Company. It is also mounted to its reverse by a screw-back post. There is a hook and fabric eye beneath the lowest front closure button. The chevron on the left forearm indicates six months overseas service. The chevron on the left sleeve denotes the rank of a first class private. The sleeve insignia near the left shoulder, being a red cloth shield with a stylized black hawk with "B H’ to a central shield, distinguishes the division the wearer belonged to, in this case, the 86^th Blackhawk Infantry Division. The interior is fully lined in copper-brown rayon, with the sleeves in a slightly different colored material. The uniform is complete with the M1912 olive drab wool semi-breeches, tapered from the knee down to fit into the leggings. They have a four-button French fly, with a fifth, larger, button at the waist, two diagonal slash hip pockets, with a fob pocket behind the right one, and two horizontal slash pockets to the rear. The smaller alloy dish buttons to the fly each have "U.S.A" embossed to them, while the larger one to the waist has "U.S. Army" embossed to it. All of the buttons appear to retain their original stitching. The six vertical loops around the waist band allowed their use with a fabric belt. The knees are reinforced with matching wool patches, each with six parallel rows of chevron-shaped stitching to them. There are twelve, tan-colored alloy grommets to each side of the 9 1/4" vertical openings to the outside seams of each of the cuffs, with what appears to be their original laces fed through them. The cuffs have been reinforced with stitched on, folded over, olive drab cloth tape. The lining to the waistband, fly, and the cotton bags are all in white cotton. Sewn to the under side of the right hip pocket bag is a 2 3/8" x 1 7/16", white oilcloth tag, upon which is printed "H.A. Grunewald Co.", "Evanston, ILL.", "Contract No. 2143-C April 20, 1915", "Specification No. 1286", "Chicago Depot U.S.A." below which are "Inspector" and "Date" on two dotted lines with a mostly indecipherable ink stamp beside them. Stamped in black ink to the underside of both hip pocket flaps are "15" and "19" and a hand written "16" to the left flap. The documents included are a white cardboard inventory tag, a drill regulation book and a photostat of the original Honorable Discharge from the United States Army. The inventory tag , about 4 3/4" by 2 3/8", has a reinforced hole at the top with a string through it with the hand written text to one side reading "Charlse R. Burt", "Private", "344 Inf.", Machine Gun Co.", "86^th Division" while the other side has "Hillside ", "29 May 1983". The soft cover Infantry Drill Regulation book is about 5 11/16" by 4 ½", with 252 pages and has printed to the front cover "Infantry Drill Regulations", "United States Army", "1911", "With War Department Changes", "New York Army and Navy Journal", "D. Appleton & Company". Hand written to the front cover is "J W Werther U.S.A" while the rest is partly indecipherable and I. D. R. Written to the spine. The first page is similar to the cover with the addition "Text corrected Nov, 9, 1917, to include Changes 21 and Appendix D, U.S. Rifle Model 1917 (Enfield)" and the seal of the United States of America War Office. The book consists of four parts broken down into chapters, the four parts being "Drill", "Combat", Marches and Camps" and "Manuals". The photostat is about 15 5/8" by 9 7/8" and is in negative, having a dark background with white text. The page is split with the top 1/3 part being his discharge and the bottom 2/3 his enlistment record. The text along the very top is "Certified Copy of Soldier’s Honorable Discharge Class ?" while further down it states "This is to certify, that Charles A. Burt 2833639 Private 1^st Cl. M. G. Co. 344^th Infantry" , and goes on to state that he was discharged by reason of "Convenience of the Govt per cir 106 W.D. 1918". His enlistment record shows that he served in the A.E.F from Sept 9, 1918 to April 27, 1919. The overseas cap is in good condition with some light nap wear and minor staining while the tunic has some minor staining, nap wear, a few small holes but all its buttons, the breeches have some light nap wear, some small holes but also retain all its buttons with what appears to be their original stitching. All the bronze buttons have the same amount of age darkening and appear to have their original stitching. The documents are in good condition with no pages missing in the Drill Regulation Book but the photostat has been folded but is mostly legible.

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