U.S. NAVY WWII PHARMACISTS MATE "CRACKERJACK" DRESS BLUE UNIFORM TOP/PANTS I'D

Description

Photographs throughout Ad:
Offered for auction from an estate sale is an excellent example of American Military Uniform History a
VINTAGE WWII U.S. NAVY PETTY OFFICERS - JUMPER/PANTS “CRACKERJACK” DRESS BLUES  - PHARMACHIST MATE 3RD CLASS INSIGNIA  -  UNIFORM TOP/BELLBOTTOM PANTS “IDENTIFIED” WITH SERVICEMANS NAME AND RUPTURED DUCK INSIGNIA ON BREAST --
Below additional information on the U. S. Navy Dress Blue Jumper Uniform Top and Bellbottom pants and Insignias on Uniform as offered for Auction.  When I received this Navy Uniform a few years ago attached to the Uniform as a card describing the original ownership including name and rank etc. The card is included with the uniform. Note photographs have been taken outdoors in direct sunlight and indoors.
This Vintage U. S. Navy Jumper (Crackerjack) uniform top has the insignia of a Petty Officer 3rd Class.  The Insignia below the Eagle is that of a Pharmacist Mate 3rd Class “Hospital Corpsman”.  There is no enlistment bar on sleeve I believe do to the Crewmen not relisting when the enlistment bars were presented after four years of service and re-enlistment.  This was due to his Honorable Discharge on 16 December 1945 and did not re-enlist .  A Ruptured duck as noted above is present on the chest of the Jumper as photo shows.
What is very interesting relative to this uniform is the embroidered name of the crewmen Pharmacist Mate (ROGER W. GREGORY) along with an Anchor on the back inside of  the jumper as photo shows. The pants also have the embroidery on the waist along with the crewmen’s name on a pocket as photos shows.  Due to this embroidery I believe that the original Navy manufacture trademark along with design and manufacture number and size has been removed.
The original Jumper sets were 100% wool which I  believe this set is.  The U.S. Navy Jumper (Crackerjack) Dress Blue Uniform Top and Bellbottom pans are in very good to excellent used condition as photo shows. All buttons present also.  The only detriment to the set is that sometime during the past 74 years the bottom of a front pocket has been cut off. The other front pocket is complete with owners name embroidered.  In any uniform purchase before wearing I would recommend having it cleaned. This is a worn unit and has been in storage of many years.   The measurements of the jacket are as follows - Width across shoulders 18”, length from top of jacket shoulder to bottom of jacket 22”, top of sleeve to bottom 25” and from inside of sleeve to bottom 20”.  The Bellbottom pants from top of waist to  bottom of bellbottom measures 41”. From inside of pants to bottom 31”.  The waist measures 28 inches.
Below I have added additional information on the history and duty of the Pharmacists Mate ( Hospital Corpsman) and the Ruptured Duck.
Hospital Corpsmen were assigned to the multitude of duty types and locations needed to support a Navy involved in a world war. Naval hospitals were opened and staffed. Ships and aircraft squadrons were given medical support. At sea, the dangers of the new war were ever present.  Naval training facilities and shore establishments needed Hospital Corpsmen, as did occupation forces in Haiti and other bases around the world. But World War I provided the Hospital Corps a role that would afford it some of the most dangerous challenges it would ever face: duty with the Marine Corps.
Assignment to Marine Corps units was not completely new.   Hospital Corpsmen were serving with Marine occupational forces in Cuba, Haiti, and Santo Domingo at the outbreak of the war, and they had seen other similar service. It was the change of the Marine Corps’ role to one of expeditionary forces in a large-scale ground war that changed what Hospital Corpsmen would do.  Sick call and preventive medicine were continuous roles that remained unchanged. Facing artillery, mustard gas, and machine gunfire were new experiences.
A heritage of valorous service with the Marines was born, as evidenced by two Hospital Corpsmen receiving the Medal of Honor. Other decorations to Hospital Corpsmen included 55 Navy Crosses, 31Army Distinguished Service Crosses, 2 Navy Distinguished Service Medals, and 237 Silver Stars. A hundred foreign personal decorations were granted to Navy Hospital Corpsmen, and 202 earned the right to wear the French Fourragère shoulder aiguillette permanently.   Their 684 personal awards make the Hospital Corps, by one account, the most decorated American unit of World War I.
PHARMACIST’S MATES IN WORLDWAR II:
World War II became the period of Hospital Corps’ greatest manpower, diversity of duty, and instance of sacrifice.   Between 1941 and 1945, the ranks of this small organization swelled from its prewar levels of near 4,000 to more than 132,000 personnel. This increase came to fulfill new responsibilities with new technologies at new duty stations. In the face of great adversity, the Hospital Corps would cement its reputation for effectiveness and bravery.
The Navy’s fleet expanded to thousands of ships, and the Marine Corps grew from a few regiments to six divisions.  A two-ocean war produced horrific numbers of casualties, and the Hospital Corps grew to meet the needs of casualty collection, treatment, and convalescence. To educate the influx of new Sailors, Hospital Corps Training School at Portsmouth, Virginia, was augmented by a temporary school at Naval Hospital Brooklyn, New York. The school at Great Lakes was recreated in 1942, and others were started at Farragut, Idaho, and at Bainbridge, Maryland, in 1943.  A separate Hospital Corps Training School was established for women at Bethesda, Maryland, in January 1944.  Specialized schools were opened to train pharmacist’s mates for independent duty and for service with the Marines.  Additionally, courses were established to instruct personnel on new equipment and techniques in dozens of developing medical fields.
Shore-based duty sent Hospital Corps personnel to hospitals and dispensaries in the United States and abroad.  Advance-base hospitals on newly captured Pacific islands formed a crucial link in the chain of evacuation from battle sites. Those facilities in Hawaii or England received casualties from their respective fronts, and wounded service personnel recuperated in Stateside hospitals.   Hospital Corpsmen made the treatment of American casualties possible at each of these by providing technical support and direct patient care.
Duty on surface ships afforded Hospital Corpsmen numerous challenges and abundant environments in which to face them.  Hospital ships required the services of personnel in much the same way as shore-based hospitals, except that those on ship were afloat and subject to attack. Other classes of vessels, such as landing ships and patrol craft (LSTs and PCERs),  became large floating clinics/ambulances which required additional Hospital Corps personnel.  Additionally, combatant ships and transports in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Mediterranean theaters took casualties from ships, aircraft, and submarines throughout the war, necessitating the service of well-trained Hospital Corpsmen.
Approximately 300 Hospital Corpsmen sat out all but the early days of the war when they were captured in the Philippines by the invading Japanese.  In prisoner-of-war camps and huddled in POW “hell ships,” they endured malnutrition, disease, torture, and brutality.  One hundred thirty-two Hospital Corpsmen died as prisoners during World War II, a death rate almost 20percent higher than among other American POWs.
RUPTURED DUCK>     The original Ruptured Duck was a cloth insignia depicting an eagle inside a wreath. It was worn on uniforms above the right breast pocket by WWII servicemen and women.
It was issued to service personnel who were about to leave the military with an Honorable Discharge. It also allowed them to continue to wear their uniform for up to thirty days after they were discharged since there was a clothing shortage at that time. This showed the MP's that they were in transit and not AWOL. Well, the boys thought the eagle looked more like a duck; and, because it meant they were going home, the popular saying was, "They took off like a Ruptured Duck"...hence the nickname.
I will accept PAYPAL and other Ebay payment methods. Items will be shipped Priority Mail mail usually next day after payment of Paypal, packaging and mail $ 12.95.