WW1 Enlisted Man Tunic & Overcoat

Sgt George J. Arbogast - Hq Co, 330th Infantry Regiment

This is a beautiful WWI Uniform group named to George Arbogast, a Sergeant of the 83rd Infantry Division during World War One. It contains his Jacket, his Overcoat and his pants. Both, the Jacket and the overcoat have beautiful gold Bullion ribbon patches on the shoulder, one overseas stripe, a honorable discharge stripe and sergeant stripes. The jacket has an HQ Infantry Collar disk. There is a depot tag of March 1918 inside the pocket of the jacket but none can be found on the overcoat, the coat does have a faint US stamped in the back.

Sergeant George John Arbogast

George John Arbogast was born on April 23, 1896 in Middleboro, Ohio to German immigrants Wilhelm Arbogast and Elizabeth Blum who had immigrated to the United States in 1880. At age 21 George J. Arbogast was drafted and entered the service with the National Army on October 3, 1917 (serial number 1938990). He received basic training at Camp Sherman, Ohio and was assigned to Hq Company, 330th Infantry Regiment with whom he'd stay for the duration of his service. On December 17, 1917 he was promoted to the rank of Corporal. Together with the other units of the 83rd George Arbogast left for France on June 12, 1918 and because of the 83rd's status as a depot division he would not see frontline action. On July 11, 1918 he received another promotion reaching the rank of Sergeant. On January 30, 1919 he arrived back in the US aboard the SS Frederick. Two weeks later, on February 13, George Arbogast received his honorable discharge.

Upon his return home George Arbogast married Ella Parker on September 18, 1919. He remained a resident of Ohio until his death on March 8, 1988. He's buried at Edwardsville Cemetery alongside his wife Ella who had preceded him in death.

WW1 Enlisted Man Tunic

The tunic is a nice example of an M1917 tunic manufactured by C Austern Co, NY March 27, 1918. The M1917 tunic was the most common style of tunic worn during WW1 as opposed to the lesser used M1912 and M1918 types. This tunic has a nice bullion on wool 83rd Infantry division patch, one honorable discharge and one service chevron on the left sleeve. An unidentified pin can be found on the left breast pocket. The insignia on the collar are a US disk and Infantry crossed rifles with HQ company letters.

WW1 Enlisted Man overcoat

The overcoat is a style M1917 overcoat. During WW1 two types of Overcoats were introduced and dubbed M1917 and M1918. The most important differences between the M1917 and M1918 models is the absence of the button cuff tabs and shorter length. Similar to the tunic, the overcoat has a bullion on wool 83rd patch, honorable discharge chevron and overseas service stripe on the left sleeve. All insignia and placement are identical to that of the tunic.

Chevron