Original Items: Only One Set Available. Now this is a fantastic uniform set featuring English made bullion insignia. The uniform set is nicely marked and belonged to Captain Milton Michael Willner, Captain, US Army Medical Corps, 8th Army Air Force. Willner enlisted on January 16, 1943 and received his discharge on January 17, 1946. During his time in the service he received a Bronze Star medal while serving in the European Theatre of War. After the war he went into private pediatric practice from 1947 until he joined Hoffman-La Roche in 1963. He was a clinical instructor of pediatrics at New York Medical College from 1947 to 1960 and held appointments in pediatrics in several New Jersey hospitals. He was a diplomate of the American Board of Pediatrics, Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a member of several professional societies, including the American Federation of Clinical Research and the American Heart Association.

Dr. Willner earned an A.B. at Cornell University and an M.D. at New York Medical College, interned at Newark City Hospital, and completed residencies at Essex County Isolation Hospital, New Jersey, and Flower Firth Ave. Hospital, New York City.

He lived a long and rather prestigious life both before and after the War, making this uniform a wonderful addition to any WWII collection!

The uniform set includes a wonderful US Army Officer’s Class A uniform coat which features gorgeous British made bullion insignia. The left shoulder has a lovely blue felt and bullion embroidered 8th Army Air Force insignia with silver bullion embroidered Captain’s bars on the shoulder straps. Other insignia featured are the standard US and Caduceus insignia on the collars, Air Crewman’s wings on the left breast with a Bronze Star and EAME ribbon beneath. The lower left sleeve has yet again, lovely silvered bullion overseas stripes totalling 4 striped denoting 24 months of overseas service. The collar on the inside liner has a lovely small embroidered name tape that reads as M. WILLNER 0461743, which matches what is written on the interior of the trousers which are in lovely condition. The peaked visor is in lovely condition though the leather sweatband and visor has partial detach present. The visor may or may not have belonged to Dr. Willner due to what appears to be a different name written on the interior of the sweatband, but uniform items are always swapped and this was how we received it. The top celluloid lining is faded and discolored but the Dobbs FIFTH AVENUE maker’s label is still present.

An incredible grouping that comes more than ready for further research and display.

Approximate Measurements:
Collar to shoulder: 10"
Shoulder to sleeve: 24”
Shoulder to shoulder: 17.5”
Chest width: 20”
Waist width: 17.5"
Hip width: 22.5”
Front length: 32.5"

Pants
Waist: 17"
Inseam: 28.5"

When the United States entered World War II, the nation’s small aviation force belonged to the U.S. Army and relied on the Army medical system for support. The rapid expansion of the AAF and the medical challenges of improved aircraft performance soon placed great strain on the ground-oriented Army medical system. By the end of the war, the AAF had successfully acquired its own medical system oriented to the special needs of air warfare.

This accomplishment reflected the determined leadership of AAF medical leaders and the dedication of thousands of medical practitioners who volunteered for aviation medical responsibilities that were often undefined or unfamiliar to them. In the face of new challenges, many American medics responded with hard work and intelligence that contributed greatly to Allied air superiority.

The Army Air Forces (AAF) relied on many types of medical support in World War II. One of the greatest medical contributions was research and development of personal survival gear and equipment for fighter and bomber crews. AAF doctors, for example, helped design the first flying suits that countered the physiological effects of the excess gravity forces (g-forces) in high-speed maneuvers. Aided by the U.S. Navy and organizations in Allied countries, the AAF Aeromedical Laboratory at Wright Field, Ohio, developed the first clothing designed successfully to counteract the negative effects of g-forces. Early in 1944, U.S. crewmen began to use the G-suits in Europe. G-suits were tactically valuable because they helped fighter pilots maintain consciousness under high gravitational forces. One P–51 pilot, who was credited with shooting down five enemy planes on one sortie, wrote:

“I found myself all alone in the middle of a bunch of Jerrys. Having no one to keep Jerry off my tail I had to keep full throttle and keep my air speed sufficient so that I could break away from anyone coming up on my tail. This maneuver would normally black me out but my G-suit kept me fully conscious of what was going on. I followed Jerry down to the deck, picking up an air speed of 600 mph. The Jerry went straight in without pulling out, and I would have, too, if I had not been wearing my G-suit.”

Because of the special needs of such pilots and crewmen, the AAF during World War II often required and obtained its own support services, separate from those of the ground forces of the U.S. Army. Early in the war, the commander of the AAF, Gen. Henry H. “Hap” Arnold, decided to try to obtain his own system of AAF medical support. By war’s end, AAF Air Surgeon Maj. Gen. David N. W. Grant had forged a medical service that was largely autonomous, although still subject to the authority of the Army Medical Department. Two other notable AAF medical leaders were Malcolm Grow and Harry Armstrong, who directed the AAF medical program that helped aircrews cope with many new challenges in Europe. Grant, Grow, and Armstrong were the best of a highly educated group of AAF medical professionals, many of whom volunteered to leave private practice to cope with new aeromedical challenges in distant theaters of war. On the home front, the AAF also administered a large network of hospitals and convalescent centers, and its programs in medical research, development, and training prevented many deaths, wounds, and illnesses in combat theaters. By the end of the war, the AAF had laid a foundation for the independent Air Force Medical Service created in July 1949.