This WWII Ike jacket and purple heart medal grouping belonged to a member of the 101st Airborne Division.  He was severely wounded in January 1945 losing fingers from his hand and toes from one of his feet. He spent nearly 300 days in hospitals recovering from his wounds. Luckily, he did finally recover from his wounds. Although purple hearts were most often engraved with the name of the Veteran for personal killed in action during WWII, they were also sometimes engraved for those who were seriously wounded or the veteran himself could have the medal privately engraved.  I think this purple heart was privately engraved.

I have some records from him that indicate that he was a member of the 401st Glider Infantry in 1945.  By 1945, many members of the glider infantry had also been parachute qualified, which would explain his jump wings instead of glider wings.  Also, he may have transferred into the 401st from a parachute unit.

Please note that we have blurred out his last name in the photos for privacy.