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Question about USMC on Bougainville

T

thegreatshaggy

Marksman
Hey everyone,

Well I just learn something interesting. My best friend whom I've known for well over twenty years always told me about his grandfather, John P. "Steve" Brody who was a USMC officer who fought on Bougainville. He told stories of during the landings how in a matter of a few minutes he became the highest ranking officer in his Battalion and how he won the Silver Star for his actions.

His grandfather is now well into his 90s and his health isn't so good so I decided to make up a figure of his grandfather. Upon doing my research I kept running in battle during the Bougainville campagin: Battle of Koromokina Lagoon 7-8 November 1943 and has him listed as the commanding officer of the 1st Bn, 3rd Marine Regiment which is extremely surprising to me since my friend always told me he was just a Lieutenant during the battle where he was wounded on the 18th of November.

I haven't gotten much information on what he wore uniform/equipment/weapon wise besides a .45 he had. So my question is what would a USMC officer that was a Bn commander would have worn during the invasion of Bougainville? What weapon would they've been issued. How was rank insignia displayed (know zip on the USMC Pacific side of things).

Any help will go a long way on this.
 
We have a couple of real USMC experts here who I hope will chime in. In the meantime I do have a healthy interest in the subject so I'll impart the bit that I know. First off insignia. You're not likely to see any, even at battalion level.
I was looking at a photo of the 1st Marines headquarters group, and there is a widespread array of uniform combinations. Chesty Puller is wearing a Khaki shirt with HBT trousers and leggings. He also has a pistol belt with Marine suspenders. In the Photo he is wearing his helmet liner which has an EGA affixed to it. His other officers are wearing mostly Marine utilities , Sage green HBT jacket and trousers. Some with leggings and some without. All are wearing helmets and most have their camo cover on them.Unlike the Army, I've never seen a WW2 period photo of a Marine officer with rank on his helmet. During Bougainville the green side camo was probably most in use. Speaking of camo, there are quite a few photos out there from that time period which show Marines in Green Camo Jackets or trousers or even both. Gear wise I'd give him a pistol and an M1 carbine for weapons. A Map case and binoculars might be worn. Give him two canteens for sure, after Guadalcanal that became standard. In rear areas a soft cap might be worn and this is one time where you would see some rank. Your officer may choose to wear his overseas cap with EGA on the left front and rank insignia on the right front. If not he may also wear the billed Engineer style cap with an EGA pinned to it or the later P43 cap made for the Marines with the EGA stencilled on it . I hope that was a little bit of help.

Tim
 
This summer I went to the Marines Museum in Harlingon Texas, It is mostly about Iwo Jima but the people there are awesome and full of information. Might look them up...Hammer
 
From your story, you said "He told stories of during the landings how in a matter of a few minutes he became the highest ranking officer in his Battalion " that tells me he was more then likely NOT the commander until this happened. He was more then likely a platoon leader with the rank of Lieutenant until the landing. I would base my uniform and equipment on that and not worry about the Battalion level.

It does list him as Major John P Brody here which could be a field commission during the battle and then returned to LT after which was common.

Battle of Koromokina Lagoon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

He sounds like a very brave man, as were all back then.
 
Trying to find more on this but from the various images I've been viewing online it looks like a majority of Marines fore went packs and only wore cartridge and pistol belts. Helmet covers are primarily in all the photos. Marine utilities with a mixture of camo mixed in.

Still hoping to talk to my friend's grandfather the next time I'm over at his place.

Of course still looking for help. Going to be getting started on the diorama here soon so have to research what the jungle on Bougainville look like.
 
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