Winter Auction 2015 closing February 7
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/8/2015
This olive drab Grenade Vest was purchased at the October 6-7, 2011, Heritage Auction of “The Personal Property of John Wayne.” These type vests were originally used by the Allied Expeditionary Forces, led by General John J. Pershing, in 1918, during the last months of World War I and later reissued to U.S. Marines in the Pacific during World War II to carry grenades or shot gun shells. Imprinted on the back “The L.N. Gross Co. / 4-18.”4-18 would indicate it was manufactured in April 1918. The vest has two rows of identical patch pockets, six along the top and five at the bottom, each with scalloped fold-over flaps with snap-button closures, all mounted on a 17.25” x 10.25” base. Each of the pockets would have originally held one Mills bomb (hand grenade). Two 2.5” x 1.5” leather straps extend from each upper corner, with a third at upper mid-center. LOA from John Wayne Estate.