Original U.S. WWII Named 508th PIR 82nd Airborne Division Uniform Ike Jacket with Star-Embedded Paratrooper Wings & Ribbon Bar - Harold Allen Hughes

Original Item. One-of-a-Kind. The 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment participated in Operation Overlord, jumping into Normandy at 2:15 a.m. on 6 June 1944. The 82nd objectives were to capture Sainte-Mère-Église, secure crossings at the Merderet River near La Fiere and Chef-du-Pont, and establish a defensive line north from Neuville-au-Plain to Breuzeville-au-Plain. There they were to tie in with the 502nd Parachute Infantry, of Major General Maxwell Taylor's 101st Airborne Division. Like most paratroop units involved in Overlord, the 508th were dropped in the wrong locations and had extraordinary difficulty linking up with each other.

This is a great identified Ike Jacket uniform to Harold A. Hughes, Company H, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, who landed at Normandy and was wounded in action in Holland on September 21st, 1944. The uniform has a great regimental “oval” with a set of Sterling Paratrooper wings attached on top, which has two period-attached campaign stars. 

The uniform jacket has an 82nd Airborne patch and rocker on the left shoulder, a very mothed 1st Allied Airborne patch on the right shoulder, four overseas stripes and one service stripe on the left cuff, US & Infantry collar discs, and Sergeant chevrons on both sleeves. There is a Presidential Unit Citation over the right breast pocket, and a 6-place ribbon bar over the left breast pocket with the American Campaign medal, the WWII Victory medal, the Occupation medal with star, the Purple Heart, the Good Conduct medal, and the European-African-Middle Eastern campaign medal with four campaign stars and an invasion arrowhead. Over this is a period-stitched Airborne oval for the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment with a set of Sterling Paratrooper wings attached. On the wings are two attached campaign stars, an uncommon but known practice. On the pocket is a Sterling Combat Infantryman Badge. There is a size tag, 36S, under the collar. 

The interior shows heavy wear and the handwritten name HUGHES. This identifies it to Sergeant Harold A. Hughes of Company H. The jacket comes with two printed pages of research on Hughes including his obituary and a list of wounded men of the 508th including him. The only caveat here is that the list shows him as a Private First Class, but his uniform has Sergeant stripes. He may have been promoted after the end of the war. 

Harold Allen Hughes was born on December 14th, 1922 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He enlisted on December 30th, 1942 in Sacramento, California and was assigned to the Paratroopers. He was assigned to Company H, 508th PIR, 82nd Airborne Division, and went overseas with the original detachment. He landed on Normandy and saw every action with the unit before being wounded in action in Holland on September 21st, 1944. He returned home and worked as a pressman for the Modesto Bee and later for Stockton Record. He passed away on March 7th, 2000 in Alamogordo, New Mexico, at the age of 77.

A great 508th PIR uniform, ready for further research and display.