Travelling Caps or are they Hats?

This last weekend we made another trip to do some cleaning and came across some more treasures that lead to this post.  It's a military hat that belonged to Ross Samuel Martin Jr., who was the second oldest son of Ross & Lena Martin.

We are kind of in a holding pattern as we wait for the house leveler to come in May so we are gradually making trips to keep cleaning out.  We had three closets to clean out along with moving more of the bigger items like mattresses.  Once we get a load we are taking it to Abilene to dispose of the items---charity or just to the trash.

While I was looking up information on Ross Sr. & his wife Lena I came across the obituary for Ross Jr. and in the obituary was a picture of him in his military outfit.  And low and behold this weekend we found his hat  (or cap as they are called by military) in what would have been his mother's closet.  Now, I have to point out that Ross Jr died in 1966 at the age of  55.  His mother was still alive when he died so I can only imagine she held onto some of these personal items from her son.  I had to take a picture of the hat on the globe because I wondered was the globe (if it was hers) a way for her to look to see where her son was stationed---I can only imagine how she must have felt about her son being so far away from little old Talpa, Texas.

Ross's Obituary- he passed away in  December of 1966.

Ross entered the Army Air Force (AAF) on October 3, 1942.  He served overseas with the 15th Army Air Force 744th bomb squadron.  His service overseas included travelling to Naples, Foggia, Southern France, Rome-Arno, Rhineland, Apennines, and Po Valley,  In his time in the military, he was in Southern & Northern Italy, France, and Germany.  Countries he probably knew very little about while growing up in Coleman County.  He was honorably discharged on September 9, 1945.

A special thanks to my friend Dale for her help in finding the documents below that add to the story of Ross's military enlistment. 

Registration Card:

Field Patches for members of the 744th Bomb Squadron:

 

Wikipedia story about 744th Bomb Squadron during World War II:

Application for a Headstone for Ross by his Widow, Mildred

My husband tells me I'm too sentimental about things that come from the past.  He sees these things as providing no significant value to the present so they should be discarded accordingly,  Me, on the other hand, see the person tied to the item whether it's Ross's cap or anything else and I am drawn to wanting to know the story behind it.  It doesn't provide any monetary value but it is part of the history of this family.  Now, I think I need to return this to the Martin family.  From what I can tell it doesn't appear that Ross and his wife, Mildred, had any children but surely another family member would be honored to have his cap returned.  I will let you know if I am successful in returning it to the Martin descendants.

And last but not least of all,,,,,,, thank you Ross Jr. for your service.

One more thing to point out----Take a look at the registration card under employer---you see self-employed, Mrs. Lena Martin, and Mr. Wesley Bomar.  Wes Bomar is another relative.  His wife, Anne Dial Brown Bomar was my grandfather's sister.  My dad told me that Wes worked for the Gulf Oil Distributorship and Ross worked for him there.  I know Talpa was and is a small town but it amuses me how many times our family, The Browns, were co-mingled with The Martins.