Great grouping of Airborne uniforms, gear, etc.

Hello,

These were all recently given to me to display by friend of mine, Ralph Grooten, who was a paratrooper and rigger in the 17th Airborne in WWII. The dress uniform was given to Ralph by the widow of his good friend Charlie Minnick. They were in the Battle of the Bulge and Operation Varsity, except Charlie was a "glider rider" as Ralph called him. This uniform is in the configuration that it was when they particiapted in the Victory Parade in NYC. The Corcorans have the white "parade" laces. The combat boots were Ralph's, late war, when they were issued to everyone including the airborne making a lot of them pretty mad. The PH is Ralph's, but he never wore it because he thought his wounds did not compare to those such as lost limbs, and he didn't think he deserved the same medal as soldiers with such wounds. This isn't the whole grouping: To mention a few things not pictured are a Luftwaffe belt and binoculars that Ralph took from a pilot of a downed German plane, and other smaller pieces of field gear. I don't know the whole story with the 101st combat uniform yet, but I will fill you in once I do. It may or may not be completely WWII, but it is on a M43 jacket. This is why I collect more than firearms!