Original Item. One-of-a-Kind. This is a well-worn Mills eagle snap dispatch case named and identified to 1st Lieutenant Jacob Mervine Shinkel, Machine Gun Company, 109th Infantry Regiment, 28th “Keystone” Division. The dispatch case retains five of Shinkel’s original pencils, which we never see. This is a great piece of combat-carried officer’s equipage.

The dispatch case retains all snaps and the very rare compass with cover. This is a rare variant of this already-rare case. The celluloid has hardened and broken away on much of the interior. There are loops for a carry strap but it is gone. The underside of the front flap is marked with the MILLS bullet logo and is inscribed:

J.M. SHINKEL
1ST INF. N.G.U.S.
PENNA.

There are five pencils used by Shinkel retained in the front pencil sleeves, a very rare and exciting detail.

Jacob M. Shinkel was born on May 18th, 1889 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He first enlisted in the 1st Regiment, Infantry, Pennsylvania National Guard on February 8th, 1908, rising through the ranks of Private, Corporal, Sergeant, all the way to Battalion Sergeant Major before being commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant on December 23rd, 1912. On July 27th, 1914, the day before WWI began, he was promoted to 1st Lieutenant. He served along the Mexican Border in 1916, and was federalized in August 1917. He went overseas with the 28th Division Advance School Detachment on April 30th, 1918, a bit earlier than the rest of his division. He entered the fray and on July 28th, 1918 during the German Summer Offensive, he was wounded in action. He returned home February 28th, 1919. We were able to find a photograph of him in the 28th Division unit history.

This case is particularly significant for the combination of its scarce Mills rimmed-eagle construction, surviving compass, five period pencils, direct J.M. SHINKEL / 1ST INF. N.G.U.S. / PENNA. inscription, and documented association with a wounded officer of the Machine Gun Company, 109th Infantry, 28th Division. The surviving field contents and extensive wear reinforce its character as an officer’s working piece of equipment rather than an anonymous unused example, while Shinkel’s documented wound during the Aisne-Marne fighting provides substantial historical context for the artifact.