How would I go about finding out more about this Marine?

[Gale]

I discovered an old picture in my garage of a Marine. I was curious as to where I may go on the internet to find out more about him.

LT Albert Lavender, USMC

I have a picture as well.

From the picture can anyone tell me what time frame he served? I believe it may be WW2 due to the uniform. Also, the lack of awards may mean that this picture was taken soon after commissioning. The last piece of information is that he may have been a cook.

Thanks for the help Marines.

http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/3825/62500370.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/717/62500370.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

[BadAce2212]

Im not much of help on finding out about him, but in black&white the uniform looks the same as the Service Alpha now,just with badges and ribbons. So you can find out the time frame when changes were made to get an idea of the date.

[m14ed]

The EGA on his collars and cover are NOT FOULED/
meaning (there is no rope on the anchors) so his service should
be prior to World War 2 i believe.
You might ask when they added the rope fouling to the anchors
but that may or maynot help on providing a date to his service.
Also, there is no SamBrown belt , that may also be another clue.


as to him having been a Cook,,
that is rather doubtfull as it appears
to be Lt. bars on his lapels and collars.

good luck

[michagnu]

The "Summer Khaki Uniform" was a variant of the Service Uniform for use in warmer climates. It was adopted between the first and second World Wars. The Sam Browne belt was dropped after 1943 but that doesn't mean the photo wasn't taken until after 1943. The Eagle, Globe and Anchor are not on a disk which means after 1920. Between 1925 and 1936 the eagle had "drooped wings". The fouled anchor was added in 1954 for enlisted and 1962 on officers.

As early as 1920 but more likely WWII.

[Old Marine]

The uniform he is wearing is the summer tropical uniform. This uniform was worn from 1950 to around 1964 or 1965. He was not a cook with Lt. bars. Officer EGA's were larger than enlisted EGA's which were worn on the shirt collar with the tropical uniform.

[BadAce2212]

Leave it to the old salts to solve this mystery!! Old Marine, you probably wore this right?

[Old Marine]

Leave it to the old salts to solve this mystery!! Old Marine, you probably wore this right?

Yes I wore it. The trops were at the time the best looking uniform the Corps had. The kahki's we had looked terrible after 5 minutes of wear. The wool green uniform smelled terrible when it got wet. We had a wool overcoat that was issued when you were stationed in cold weather. Smelled the same as the green uniforms. We called the wool uniforms "horse blankets." Had a raincoat that we sewed rank insignia on. It had a button in liner and socked up water like a blotter. Hence the name blotter for the raincoat. A poncho was much better.

For some reason the powers to be in the Corps did away with wearing the EGA's on the collar of the trop shirt. Looked much better with the EGA.

[Old Marine]

The Officers summer service uniform was I believe a gaberdine type material. It was the tropical color. The Officer's had a blouse with their uniform. The enlisted uniform did not have a blouse.