Original WW2 Royal Marine Uniform Grouping to Sergeant Eric Haynes

Code: 51555

A fantastic original uniform grouping to Sergeant Eric Haynes C.H/X. 101635 who served with the Royal Marines during the Second World War. 

This grouping came to me direct from the family along with another uniform which belong to his father, also a Royal Marine veteran who served at the battle of Zeebrugge. It consists of his battledress blouse, greatcoat, Blue dress unifrom and two matching peaked caps, kit bag, brass helmet badge and a single long puttee.

Arguably the star here is the 1940 pattern (Austerity) battledress blouse. Made by 'M & H Laderma Ltd' in 1943 it features a full set of original insignia and medal ribbons. Semi embroidered Royal Marine shoulder titles surmount printed Combined Operations patches below which are sergeant stripes which have been blancoed white. What is interesting it that the Combined Ops patches have not been cut down and are crudely hand stitched onto the blouse whilst the shoulder title and stripes are machine stitched. It is quite possible that the Combined Ops patch was left as large as possible as it would have been a real badge of honour for the original wearer. 

The chest bears various medal ribbons including the Italy Star and the France and Germany star. The family told me that Eric was incharge of the guns on an LCF, or 'Land Craft Flack' during various landings including those in Sicily. Basaed on the ribbons Eric clearly also served in France and/or Germany. Based on knowledge he was stationed on LCF's he could have been involved in D-Day, Walcheren or the Rhine Crossing. There is certainly scope for further research!

As with all his other items, the battledress blouse bears the simple initials 'E.h' in ink. 

Next is the Royal Marines pattern khaki greatcoat which features sergeants stripes to the lower portion of each sleeve. The front features an eight button closure which, along with the french cuff makes it clearly different to its army counterpart. The label is again very different with numbers that likely pertain to size. Again Eric has marked his initials in blue ink. The coat is in good condition but does have a few moth nips as shown in the pictures. 

Also included in the grouping is Eric Haynes blue dress uniform consisting of tunic trousers, and two peaked caps. The second peaked cap is not pictured as it is in poor condition but is still included with the grouping. The tunic features Brass Royal Marines collar badges, shoudler titles and buttons. Medal ribbons are affixed to the chest above the left breast pocket and match those on the Battledress blouse. The sleeve features a single sergeants stripe to the right sleeve and a Gun Layer trade badge to the lower left sleeve.  The tunic comes with mathcing trousers which are typical of the period and yet again bear the intials of 'E.H' in blue ink. Two matching caps are included, one of which is pictured. Neither are in fantastic condition with the better the two being shown in the attached pictures. The hat features its original brass Royal Marines Cap Badge, brass Royal Marines buttons and A fantastic original uniform grouping to Sergeant Eric Haynes C.H/X. 101635 who served with the Royal Marines during the Second World War. 

This grouping came to me directly from the family along with another uniform which belonged to his father, also a Royal Marine veteran who served at the battle of Zeebrugge. It consists of his battledress blouse, greatcoat, Blue dress uniform and two matching peaked caps, kit bag, brass helmet badge and a single long puttee.

Arguably the star here is the 1940 pattern (Austerity) battledress blouse. Made by 'M & H Laderma Ltd' in 1943 it features a full set of original insignia and medal ribbons. Semi embroidered Royal Marine shoulder titles surmount printed Combined Operations patches below which are sergeant stripes which have been blancoed white. What is interesting is that the Combined Ops patches have not been cut down and are crudely hand stitched onto the blouse whilst the shoulder title and stripes are machine stitched. It is quite possible that the Combined Ops patch was left as large as possible as it would have been a real badge of honour for the original wearer. 

The chest bears various medal ribbons including the Italy Star and the France and Germany star. The family told me that Eric was incharge of the guns on an LCF, or 'Land Craft Flack' during various landings including those in Sicily. Based on the ribbons Eric clearly also served in France and/or Germany. Based on knowledge he was stationed on LCF's he could have been involved in D-Day, Walcheren or the Rhine Crossing. There is certainly scope for further research!

As with all his other items, the battledress blouse bears the simple initials 'E.h' in ink. 

Next is the Royal Marines pattern khaki greatcoat which features sergeants stripes to the lower portion of each sleeve. The front features an eight button closure which, along with the french cuff makes it clearly different to its army counterpart. The label is again very different with numbers that likely pertain to size. Again Eric has marked his initials in blue ink. The coat is in good condition but does have a few moth nips as shown in the pictures. 

Also included in the grouping is Eric Haynes blue dress uniform consisting of tunic trousers, and two peaked caps. The second peaked cap is not pictured as it is in poor condition but is still included with the grouping. The tunic features Brass Royal Marines collar badges, shoulder titles and buttons. Medal ribbons are affixed to the chest above the left breast pocket and match those on the Battledress blouse. The sleeve features a single sergeants stripe to the right sleeve and a Gun Layer trade badge to the lower left sleeve.  The tunic comes with matching trousers which are typical of the period and yet again bear the initials of 'E.H' in blue ink. Two matching caps are included, one of which is pictured. Neither are in fantastic condition with the better the two being shown in the attached pictures. The hat features its original brass Royal Marines Cap Badge, brass Royal Marines buttons and a black leather chin strap. Inside the hat features a leather sweatband which again bears the initials 'E.H'. THe hat displays well as can be seen in the pictures but has suffered from moth damage; particularly to the red band on top. 

Also included with the grouping is Sergeants Haynes original kit bag which bears his name, rank and number. Also written more faintly is his home address in Halstead, Essex. The bag is an Indian made example and appears to be dated to early 1944. It is possible he was issued with this at the same time as the battledress blouse.

His brass helmet badge also comes with the grouping along with a single long, early pattern khaki puttee and a copy of a picture Sergeant Haynes with his unit. 

This is an incredible opportunity to own a uniform grouping to a Royal Marine who served in a number of theatres during the Second World War as part of Combined Ops. There is certainly scope for further research and this would undoubtedly be an excellent addition to any collection.