An Incredible US M1 Helmet from one of the most amazing battles in the Oceans during the war, US Navy Taffy 3 was out gunned but they put up a fight that would go down in Navy History as a battle with all odds against the US Navy. 

Interesting photos showing personal spaces around Hitlers Berghof residence, many famous places shown here. These were removed from an Album.

This is an incredible original archive to a member of the famous Merills Marauders, from his personal ID Tags right down to all his photos and negatives. The patches are astounding, considering what one of these bring on todays market, this is an instant collection of some of the most sought after from the Pacific during WW2. Needless to say here that this archive is virtually a one of a kind find. The research, the item belonged to: Name William H Hoover Race White Marital Status Married Rank Private Birth Year 1907 Nativity State or Country Ohio Citizenship Citizen Residence Ashland, Ohio Education 2 years of high school Civil Occupation Managers and officials, n.e.c. Enlistment Date 20 Feb 1943 Enlistment Place Cleveland, Ohio Service Number 35048537 Branch Branch Immaterial – Warrant Officers, USA Component Selectees (Enlisted Men) Source Civil Life Height 66 Weight 170 NAME: William H Hoover ADMISSION DATE: Nov 1944 DISCHARGE DATE: 1944 DIAGNOSIS: Diagnosis: Pes planus; SecondDiagnosis: Hyperidrosis TYPE OF DISCHARGE: Duty LENGTH OF SERVICE: No entry made SERVICE NUMBER: 35048537   Items: Identification Tags, Medal Bars, Sterling Silver Combat Infantry Badge, Presidential Citation, Silver named and numbered bracelet, CIB cigarette case made in India, Ring from India,  4 loose CIB patches maker marked BC. CIB Patch made by the Chinese, 97th Div Patch, a Merrills Marauders Patch, US Issued CIB Badge,  3 x CIB Patch 1944 Chinese made one of which is leather. Corporal and Overseas bar insignia denoting 1 1/2 Year. Three portraits of W H Hoover, one wearing the 75th Div Patch (Photo taken in October 1944). A Large selection of bank notes, for Germany, France 1944 Occupation, French, Japanese Occupation Rupees, Commonwealth Indian/British Rupees, Mexican Pesos, Chinese. Interestingly, some of Hoovers photos have been archived by the CIB Archive at some stage, and it is possible that some of his images are already published. In, Merrill’s Marauders – US War Department Historical Division – ISBN 0892010630 A series of original correspondence from W H Hoover – To his parents and friends, interestingly he wrote at the top of every page where he was, this includes, Burma Road, Ledo Road, Assam, India. Photos – His photos show the above named locations, and depict his experience there. Many of the photos are museum grade, some have been archived by CBI Turner – the negatives of many of the photos are included. An Issued of : Merrill’s Marauders –  Movie Classic – a COmic cut out of Superman with Merrill’s Marauders. Indian Flyer – likely propaganda.  Yank Weekly – June 24 1944 – plus much more. Deserves further research, or possible publishing.   Unit History Merrill’s Marauders (named after Frank Merrill) or Unit Galahad, officially named the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), was a United States Army long range penetration special operations jungle warfare unit, which fought in the Southeast Asian theater of World War II, or China-Burma-India Theater (CBI). The unit became famous for its deep-penetration missions behind Japanese lines, often engaging Japanese forces superior in number. In the Quebec Conference (QUADRANT) of August 1943, Allied leaders decided to form a U.S. deep penetration unit that would attack Japanese troops in Burma. The new U.S. force was directly inspired by, and partially modeled on Orde Wingate’s Chindits Long Range Penetration Force. A call for volunteers attracted around 3,000 men. A Memorandum from the Operations Division (OPD) of the War Department dated 18 September 1943 (OPD 320.2) listed the proposed composition of the new American long-range penetration force, which would be an all-volunteer unit. The Caribbean Defense Command provided 960 jungle-trained officers and men, 970 jungle-trained officers and men came from Army Ground Forces (based in the Continental United States) and a further 674 “battle-tested” jungle troops from the South Pacific Command (Army veterans of the Guadalcanal and Solomon Islands campaigns), with all troops to assemble at Nouméa, New Caledonia. General Douglas MacArthur was also directed to transfer 274 Army combat-experienced volunteers from the Southwest Pacific Command, veterans of the New Guinea and Bougainville campaigns. A few Pacific veteran volunteers came from stockades where volunteering earned them their freedom. They were sprinkled throughout the unit and called “The Dead End Kids” after the Hollywood film series featuring juvenile delinquents. The unit was officially designated as 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) with the code name Galahad. The men were first sent to India arriving in Bombay on 31 October 1943 to train. Here they were reinforced with Air Corps and Signal Corps personnel, as well as an animal transport company with mules and experienced muleteers. Officers and men were equipped with U.S. Herringbone Twill (HBT) uniform cotton OD uniforms, M-1943 fatigues, Type II field shoes (with or without canvas leggings), jungle boots, canvas load-bearing equipment, blanket (one-half tent or “shelter-half” per man), poncho, and a machete or kukri for brush clearing. Small arms included the .30-06 M1 Garand, the .30-06 M1903A4 sniper rifle, the .30 M1 carbine, the .45 Thompson submachine gun, the .45 M1911 pistol, the .30-06 BAR (M1922 machine rifle version), and the .30 M1919 Browning air-cooled belt-fed machine gun. Mules were used to haul radios, ammunition, and heavier support weapons, including the 2.36-inch M1A1 bazooka and the U.S. 60 mm M2 Mortar;[6] the latter was often employed without its bipod in order to speed deployment. The 5307th was originally destined to train in long-range penetration tactics under the direction of Brigadier Charles Orde Wingate, commander of the Chindits. At Deolali, 200 km (125 miles) outside Bombay, the troops endured both physical conditioning and close-order drill, before entraining for Deogarh, Madhya Pradesh. The unit was to have 700 animals that included 360 mules. There were to be as many more but the ship that was carrying them was torpedoed in the Arabian Sea. They were replaced by 360 Australian Waler horses that had originally been with the 112th Cavalry in New Caledonia who were deemed unfit for jungle warfare. They had traveled to India where they served with the Chinese Army before being assigned to the…