Wonderful Estate Collection of 1st Lieutenant Freida M. Himelwright N762305 who arrived 10 December 1944 in Europe and received Campaign Credits for Central Europe and Rhineland with the US Army Nurse Corps.    This collection of her military uniforms, hats, documents, and ephemera tell the story of a WAC Women’s Army Corps Nurse who served in the European Theater of Operations with the United States 7th Army.  Highlights of the collection are her extensive uniform grouping to include two Field Service Uniform Jackets one chocolate brown WAC Service Uniform with Advanced Base & 7th Army SSI Shoulder Patches, 1st Lieutenant Rank Insignia, Army Medical Corps Nurse N Branch Lapel Insignia, and Ribbons; additionally, the English Tailored WAC Coat and Nurse Officers WAC Service Hat. Further Uniform items include: WAC Overseas Garrison Cap with Rank and Nurse Branch Insignia, WAC Overseas Cap Chocolate Brown, WAC Doeskin Overcoat by ‘Schwartz Cincinnati’, Service Uniforms Chocolate Brown ‘Jacket Service Tropical Worsted Nurses Dark OD 10R Lyonelle Modes Dated May 1944’, Khaki Shirt & Tie, WAC Skirt with stitched laundry number, & White Uniform Jacket with 7th Army SSI Shoulder Patch and 2 Overseas Service Bars ‘Mary Sachs Tailors Harrisburg’, White WAC Officers Hat by KNOX, Khaki Tie, Two White Garrison Caps, ‘Jacket Wool OD Women’s Officers 10S Giacobbe Brothers Dated Dec 1943’, White dinner jacket, Four Additional Skirts Including One 1945 Dated French Made, Low Quarter Leather Shoes, WAC leather boots, leather riding boots, and assorted socks and garments. Exceptional Personal ID Identification Bracelet France 1945 with Army Nurse Corps Branch Insignia and Custom engraved and numbered interior to Freida Himelwright. Assorted insignia and small items to include German Occupation made 3rd Infantry Division SSI Shoulder Patch, patches, coins, 2nd Lieutenant Rank Insignia Bars,  Branch Army Nurse Corps Insignia, and other small personal pieces and patriotic items. WAC Officers Bedding Roll WAC Canvas Clothing Bag Personal Embroidered Pillow, SAKS Fifth Avenue make up compact with birds of paradise to the cover and American Red Cross Shoes with Gift Sleeve Medical Officers Cases, Canvas Case by ‘Superior Surgical’, Surgical Instruments Assortment, Glass Syringes, and Spare Needles Various books and pamphlets: German Phrase Book 30-606, 274th Infantry Independence Day Regatta Wiesbaden on the Rhine Germany 4 July 1945, My Military Missel, USO Red Cross Pad, and small papers / letters. Documents: Military Record and Report of Separation Certificate of Service and Embossed Army of The United States Certificate of Service, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Veterans Compensation, Department of Commerce Student Pilot Certificate 1946,  Photograph of 1st Lieutenant Himelwright Several pencil sketches  Post-War Civilian Private Pilot’s Log Book *Estate Auction Acquisition* – Presented as Acquired, Ribbons on the First WAC Service Uniform Coat: Army Commendation, EAME 2 Stars, and Asiatic Pacific Campaign are Incorrect per her service records but exactly as found. The price is shipped in the US, if you are from somewhere else and buy it contact us for the actual shipping cost  

The Extensive Footlocker Estate Grouping of Capt. Leroy Parham United States Army Medical Officer who “landed on Normandy Beach shortly after D-Day” (Obituary of Leroy Parham). This unique footlocker grouping tells the story of a Combat Medic / Administrative Medical Officer Captain Leroy Parham who served in the CCC and then US Medical Corps during WWII. He was attached to the U.S. 7 th & 9 th Armies. Captain Parham’s 1942 Dated 35R Service Officers “Ike” Jacket is a true highlight of this impressive collection – it has one of the finest theater embroidered Combat Medic Badges ever seen, Occupation tailored U.S. 7 th Army Patch, 9 th Army previous unit, Rank; Branch Insignia, three Overseas Service Bars bullion tailored and three ribbon bar: American Campaign, Europe Africa Middle East Campaign with Two Stars, and World War Two Victory. All contained in his original trunk this is a tremendous opportunity to add an exceptional Medical Officers grouping to any advanced collection. Further Uniform pieces include: M-1943 Field Jacket 36 Regular by ‘The Spaide Shirt Co’  – Fine Condition and early production dated 1943, Overseas Officers Garrison Caps Khaki & Chocolate Brown with Captain’s Rank, Officers Pink Trousers; Chocolate Brown Trousers, Class A Officers Chocolate Brown Service Uniform with bullion tailored 7 th Army SSI shoulder patch, US Medical Corps ‘A’ Administrative lapel insignia, Captain’s rank, and three Overseas Service Bars – Officers Sam Browne Belt, and a Officers wool shirt by ‘Vanguard’. Featured prominently above the photo of the Ike Jacket on the top of the footlocker is a European Theater Field Hospital Unit Photograph Exceptional Field Medic Geneva Convention Numbered Arm Brassard ‘M316243’ A large assortment of personal books and pamphlets including: Military Medical Manual, Officers Handbook of Information, German Phrase Book TM 30-606, Army Officers Notebook, Easter 1945, Commissary Price List, Company Administrative Records, A Short Guide to Great Britain, London Illustrated Guide Book, Central Europe Map, Westminster Abbey Pamphlet, Welcome to the Riviera, Nice, Cannes, Monaco, Paris Guides, Several Road Maps / Red Cross Maps and Going Back to Civilian Life amongst many others. A nice collection of additional insignia and patches: Theater tailored Occupation Era 7 th Army bullion SSI, 7 th & 4 th Army patches, Captain’s rank, Europe Middle East Africa ribbons, Ruptured Ducks, crests, bullion tailored Overseas Service Bars and unused Officers Service Hat Insignia. Various Photographs and Orders Honorable Discharge from the CCC Civilian Conservation Corps Franklin Roosevelt Expeditionary Forces Letter Several Large Maps of German Areas of Operation Several Newspapers including the ‘Al Hambra Echo Dec 12, 1945’ featuring the story General Patton Unchanged Capture Paper Signed by Maj. Thadeus Bugelski MC 86 th Medical Battalion authorizing the capture and bring back of 1 Luger Pistol, German Camera and German Field Glasses Souvenir K98 Bayonet by Carl Eickhorn 1938 (numbers matching) Leather Souvenir Box and other miscellaneous souvenirs including a fine little cup from Lourdes. Please make inquiry about shipping as this is a standard footlocker of WW2 and loaded is fairly heavy. The total includes Free Shipping in the United States.

Neudorf was born in Ukraine and served in one of the oddest Waffen SS units known. I was unable to find any other Soldbuch for a member of this unit. Apart from doing excavations and preparing special defences, they engaged partisans in Italy, and are mentioned by various sources for taking part in the Pedescala massacre in Italy. His Soldbuch was issued by, Prof. Gustav Riek (see below for his career – Himmlers Staff) The unit:Himmler ‘s SS had set up a special department of geologists: it was the ” SS-Wehrgeologen Bataillon (mot) 500″ set up between 1941 and 1942 in Hamburg-Langerhorn. Then in the summer of 1943 a department was sent to Italy , in the Reggio Emilia area , while the other units were sent, on March 16, 1944 , to the Breton region in France . In Italy they had to officially prepare the fortifications for the “Blaue Linien” between Trentino and Veneto . After 8 September 1943 , at least 200 Italians, including 5 officers, joined that unit, so that by April 1944 the unit had a strength of 12 officers, 50 non-commissioned officers and 580 men, with the following armament: 27 MG, 6 mittl. Gr.Werfer, 60 machine guns, 450 rifles. In the spring of 1945 the “SS-Wehrgeologen Btl ” was stationed on the Folgaria plateau in Trentino, and was under the command of Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel) Rolf Hohne, born on 26 September 1908 , who had led in 1936 the excavations in the castle of Quedlinburg , where the skull of Henry I the Fowler was found , the mythical king of the Saxons, of which the head of the SS , Heinrich Himmler, believed to be the reincarnation. Some of the purposes of this special SS unit was also the search for sources of water, minerals and precious stones. Research carried out above all on the Carpathians, through excavations in archaeological sites and explorations of natural caves. Now, this SS Unitt was inspired by the studies of Wilhelm Teudt , director of the “Ortungslinienforschung” department of the Ahnenerbe , and by those of Josef Heinsch relating to the theory of the “Heilige-linien” , who maintained that Trieste could be the place of contact or one of the doors to the afterlife, or one of the crossing points to another world. In 1943-1945, when the impending defeat of the Third Reich became obvious, the SS geologists were sent to southern France and Italy, to work on the Blue Line. Blu line was a system of fortifications, to be built in the Prealps, to stop the allies, invading at the time Sicily during ‘Operation Husky.’ An even more ambitious plan included the idea to use the mountains as the Alpenfestung, the Alps-fortress, as a last refugium for the Nazis. At this time the unit comprised more than 600 men, including geologists and soldiers. In the Italian city of Trieste, the Wehrgeologen helped in the construction of ‘Small Berlin’, a system of underground bunkers. During this operation, the geologists explored also caves and ancient mines, in part for minerals and resources, but also searching for the mythical entrance to a supposed ancient underground reign. Supposedly, strange galleries of unknown origin were discovered. At least some members also studied supposed earth-force-fields. Wilhelm Teudt and Josef Heinsch, both researchers at the Ahnenerbe, believed that streams of energy, following Ley-Lines, crossed beneath the city of Trieste. Today, Nazi geologists searching the entrance to the Hollow Earth sounds like the plot for a bad movie. This should not hide the cruel reality of the war and the regime. The SS Wehrgeologen were also involved in war crimes. In the village of Laita various civilians were executed by the bataillon 500. The villages of Pedescala and Settecà, in the province of Trentino, were both burned to the ground and 83 civilians killed. This happened during the withdraw of the German troops in the last days of World War II, an involvement of the SS geologists seems also possible in this case. Signatures: Page 2 –  Johannes Gustav Riek (May 23, 1900 in Stuttgart − November 1, 1976 in Feldstetten) was a German archaeologist from the University of Tübingen who worked with the SS Ahnenerbe in their excavations, and led the teams that excavated the Vogelherd Cave in 1931, the Heuneburg Tumulus burial mounds in 1937 and the Brillenhöhle 1955–63. At Vogelherd, Riek discovered ivory figurines of the Aurignacian archeological tradition. Gustav Riek studied geology and was a scientific assistant in Halle/Saale and at the Prehistoric Institute of the University of Tübingen. In 1934 he habilitated with the work Die Eiszeitjägerstation am Vogelherd in the Lonetal and became a lecturer at the University of Tübingen. In 1935 Riek was appointed associate professor and director of the Institute for Prehistory and Early History. In 1929 he became a member of the NSDAP, in 1933 he joined the SA and was a block warden as well as archive and press warden. In 1937 Riek became a member of the SS. From 1933 he was also a member of the Reich Association of German Civil Servants (RDB), from 1934 in the NS-People’s Welfare (NSV) and in the NS-Altherrenbund (NSAHB), from 1935 in the NS-Dozentenbund (NSDDB) and for this man of trust at the Mathematical -Faculty of natural sciences at the University of Tübingen and in the same year a member of the Reichskolonialbund (RKB). In the SS Ahnenerbe he worked on Germanic prehistoric research. In March 1941, Riek was appointed to the personal staff of Reichsfuhrer SS (RFSS) Heinrich Himmler. In December 1941 Riek received the SS Totenkopfring and the Julgabe of the ancestral heritage. From January 1940 to March 1942 he was responsible for the political training of prisoners in the SS special camp in Hinzert, first as Obersturmfuhrer and then as Hauptsturmfuhrer of the Waffen-SS. In the fall of 1941, Riek was involved in the murder of 70 Soviet prisoners of war by injecting potassium cyanide. According to Strobel 2003, p. 452, Riek…

An Interesting document with period picture, can be seen the OST Patch in wear. Josef Machina was from Ukraine, and was sent to Austria to work on a farm, but seven days after he arrived to work in Braunau am Inn he ran away in the summer of 1942. After looking in various archives, I was unable to find him mentioned ever again. Although, it is hard to think that Josef made it far from his captives. If caught he was most certainly face strong punishment or even death. Comments: An odd document, many items are seen for OST workers, but rarely is it recorded that they ran away.