Per an included letter, this grouping consists of the war trophies taken by a Corporal Frank Meszaros, a World War II veteran who served with the Headquarters Company of the 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry, Third Division. A host unit to such famous names as George C. Marshall, Dwight Eisenhower and Audie Murphy, the 15th was engaged in French North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France and Germany. Meszaros' personal narrative mentions his assignment to the Intelligence and Recon element of his battalion, taking a P.38 as a trophy from a German POW at the Anzio Beachhead (not included in this lot), and the incident that netted much of this loot. In April of 1945, Meszaros was on a patrol near Salzberg, Austria, which came upon a Waffen-SS barracks that had been abandoned, which in turn was the source for most of the contents of the lot. The group includes a number of badges and medals, including: 2 Anti-Partisan badges, 3 infantry badges, an Iron Cross Second Class, two Wound Badges, Iron Cross Clasp, Eastern Service Medal, four "Ostvolk" medals and three War Merit Crosses (one with swords, two sans swords). Cloth items included: shoulder boards (1 pair blank black with green trim, 1 pair black with red trim, and a SS-Hauptsturmfuehrer set with green trim), an early badge cut off an SS cap with copper brown waffenfarbe trim, party armband (one black stripe at top and bottom) with intact RZM/SS label, silver bullion SS pattern shoulder eagle, two "SS" rune tabs and six officer's rank tabs (one oberfuehrer, three SS-Gruppenfuehrer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS, one SS-Obergruppenfuehrer und General der Waffen-SS, and one SS-Oberst-Gruppenfuehrer und Generaloberst der Waffen-SS); these tabs include the highest three ranks that could be achieved with the Waffen-SS, and are rare to see. A number of small paper items are included, such as German and Italian postcards, loose ribbons, and envelopes for medals. Provenance: The Putnam Green/Sycamore Collection

Very fine overall, with mild wear and tear appropriate to age.