Parker Green Vacumatic in WWII

[Randorider]

Last month I bought a nice green vacumatic set in an antique store in Florida. It is personalized LT. Gordon B. Chapman Q.M.C. The date code is 1 with no dots which at the time I thought was first quarter. I did some Internet research and found that Lt. Chapman may have graduated from a military school in 1941, then was killed in WWII. The pen set I thought might have been a graduation gift. As I read more about vacumatics I realized I had the date code wrong, that no dots means fourth quarter, which would make this less likely a difficult graduation gift in 1941.

A few weeks ago I saw a similar set on ebay and noticed that it too was engraved with an officer's name and rank and the Q.M.C. initials. Because this officer was a major I thought it was unlikely to be a graduation gift.

So now I'm wondering whether the quartermaster corps issued green vacumatics to its officers. Have you seen any other green vacumatics with this personalization? I don't have my pen now, I sent it out to have the diaphram, so here's a photo of the pen I saw on ebay.

 

Len

 

 

[david i]

Last month I bought a nice green vacumatic set in an antique store in Florida. It is personalized LT. Gordon B. Chapman Q.M.C. The date code is 1 with no dots which at the time I thought was first quarter. I did some Internet research and found that Lt. Chapman may have graduated from a military school in 1941, then was killed in WWII. The pen set I thought might have been a graduation gift. As I read more about vacumatics I realized I had the date code wrong, that no dots means fourth quarter, which would make this less likely a difficult graduation gift in 1941.

A few weeks ago I saw a similar set on ebay and noticed that it too was engraved with an officer's name and rank and the Q.M.C. initials. Because this officer was a major I thought it was unlikely to be a graduation gift.

So now I'm wondering whether the quartermaster corps issued green vacumatics to its officers. Have you seen any other green vacumatics with this personalization? I don't have my pen now, I sent it out to have the diaphram, so here's a photo of the pen I saw on ebay.

 

Len

 

The two digit date code indicates production first quarter 1938.

 

Green was a typical color well documented for regular sale.

 

Barring the highly improbable discovery of a vintage requisition sheet from the military, etc, it will be difficult to support a claim that the military ordered any (or only) green Vacumatic run for its staff. Too- pure speculation on my part- noting that the pen shown was a quite high end (expensive) FP back in the day, I s'pose i find it a bit unlikely the US Army decided to outfit its staff routinely with such pens.

 

regards

 

David

Edited January 2, 2009 by david i

[Richard]

According to Col. John A. Hauck, U.S. Army (ret), the Army purchased exactly zero fountain pens for issue to its personnel. Col. Hauck (then a Staff Sergeant) was the Division Clerk for the Seventh Army, in the Aleutians. He used the standard Army issue writing instrument, a wooden-handled steel-nibbed dip pen. Soldiers who wanted to use fountain pens brought their own pens with them, received them as gifts from home, or purchased what was available in the PX. It was to rear-echelon PXes the world over that pens destined for the military went; Col. Hauck told me that they virtually never showed up in combat-zone PXes.

 

FWIW, both Dwight Eisenhower and Douglas MacArthur carried pens they brought with them, Ike a GF-capped Buckskin Beige "51" given to him by Kenneth Parker and MacArthur a Big Red Duofold. If the Army were issuing fountain pens, the supreme commanders of the European and Pacific Theaters would certainly have been at the top of the list.

Edited January 2, 2009 by Richard

[Randorider]

The photo in my original post was the pen I saw on ebay because my pen is not available for photographs. Yes they are a couple years apart in manufacturing, but they are similar vacumatics with similar engravings. Sorry for that confusion.

 

This interesting Parker advertisement from 1944 implies that 60% of Parker pens were going to the army and the navy. Was 60% of Parker's pen production at this time wooden handled steel nib dip pens? That's one unlikely possibility. A more reasonable possibility is that the pens were going to the PX to sell to soldiers and sailors and that Parker was misleading in its advertising. It could also be that 60% of Parker production was not pens but was something else that the military needed. Again a reasonable possibility but also a misleading advertisement. Or possibly Colonel Hauck is wrong.

 

I agree, the pens used by Eisenhower and MacArthur are not conclusive. You could present a good argument that they would not use army-issue pens. Maybe MacArthur would use a big, bold, distinctive pen and Eisenhower would use a more modern pen, each distinguishing himself from his army-issue using subordinates.

 

David's cost analysis is very persuasive. Maybe it was the style of the quartermaster corps officers to buy themselves similar pens at the PX. Or maybe, because the quartermaster corps had influence on which companies would get army contracts, it was Parker that presented nice pens to the officers in the quartermaster corps.

 

Len

 

 

 

[david i]

The photo in my original post was the pen I saw on ebay because my pen is not available for photographs. Yes they are a couple years apart in manufacturing, but they are similar vacumatics with similar engravings. Sorry for that confusion.

 

This interesting Parker advertisement from 1944 implies that 60% of Parker pens were going to the army and the navy. Was 60% of Parker's pen production at this time wooden handled steel nib dip pens? That's one unlikely possibility. A more reasonable possibility is that the pens were going to the PX to sell to soldiers and sailors and that Parker was misleading in its advertising. It could also be that 60% of Parker production was not pens but was something else that the military needed. Again a reasonable possibility but also a misleading advertisement. Or possibly Colonel Hauck is wrong.

 

I agree, the pens used by Eisenhower and MacArthur are not conclusive. You could present a good argument that they would not use army-issue pens. Maybe MacArthur would use a big, bold, distinctive pen and Eisenhower would use a more modern pen, each distinguishing himself from his army-issue using subordinates.

 

David's cost analysis is very persuasive. Maybe it was the style of the quartermaster corps officers to buy themselves similar pens at the PX. Or maybe, because the quartermaster corps had influence on which companies would get army contracts, it was Parker that presented nice pens to the officers in the quartermaster corps.

 

Len

 

Hi,

 

We lack, i believe, a significant enough sampling to draw any conclusions or even serious hypotheses as to the purchasing habits of military pen buyers regarding color/brand/model/make. Speculation can be fun, but even then it is helpful to consider the breadth and depth of the data/observation from which we launch into it.

 

Offhand, i vaguely recall seeing other makes and other color Vacs with military personalizations, though I have not kept data carefully regarding this issue.

 

best regards

 

david

Edited January 2, 2009 by david i

[John Danza]

While David's correct that we have insufficient data to draw any conclusions, the Parker notice seems to conflict with the information told to Richard.

 

Len, I would suggest you do a request for information from the Defense Department. This info should be available under the Freedom of Information Act. There shouldn't be anything secret about whether or not the military ordered pens during the war.

[BillTheEditor]

Anything the Army issued would have been stock. No personalizations. It is very unlikely that the Army would have issued fountain pens to anyone, commissioned or not. Parker "51"s would have been a personal purchase by the individual, or a gift from someone. I can just about guarantee this.

[Ernst Bitterman]

If the Army were issuing fountain pens, the supreme commanders of the European and Pacific Theaters would certainly have been at the top of the list.

 

Just for the sake of fun, I'm going to point out Patton's non-reg sidearm-- High Command might occasionally have some non-issue kit.

 

But I'm not suggesting that there were GI Vacumatics.

[Richard]

... the Parker notice seems to conflict with the information told to Richard.

No, it doesn't. Those pens, as I said, were going to rear-echelon PXes -- all over the world, but mostly destined for Zone Interior (official term for "stateside").

[Richard]

Just for the sake of fun, I'm going to point out Patton's non-reg sidearm-- High Command might occasionally have some non-issue kit.

Patton was recognized as something of a loose cannon, but Ike put up with him for the same reason that Abe Lincoln refused to dismiss Grant: as Lincoln put it, "He fights."

[Randorider]

We lack, i believe, a significant enough sampling to draw any conclusions or even serious hypotheses as to the purchasing habits of military pen buyers regarding color/brand/model/make.

 

Yes, I agree. I saw two vacs, out of the millions (?) produced, that are similar enough that I thought there might be a connection because of the style and engraving and was asking whether anyone else has seen others with the same features. I am trying to make N larger, but I don't expect to get a significant p value. It's not a study, just anecdotal.

 

Len

[OldGriz]

We lack, i believe, a significant enough sampling to draw any conclusions or even serious hypotheses as to the purchasing habits of military pen buyers regarding color/brand/model/make.

 

Yes, I agree. I saw two vacs, out of the millions (?) produced, that are similar enough that I thought there might be a connection because of the style and engraving and was asking whether anyone else has seen others with the same features. I am trying to make N larger, but I don't expect to get a significant p value. It's not a study, just anecdotal.

 

Len

 

As to the similarity of the engraving...

Parker sold/rented/gave???? an engraving machine to their dealers so that they could properly engrave the users name on a pen...

This machine, AFAIK, was the same for all dealers.... during the celluloid period of the Vacumatic, etal I believe the machines used a heat impression system

[Scripsit]

Is that a whippet? Beautiful dog. Rob

[Randorider]

Thanks! Yes, that's Daisy the whippet. Sadly no longer with us.

 

Is that a whippet? Beautiful dog. Rob