Belt, Web
Object number2018.132.8
Date1943-1945
MediumCanvas; Metal
Credit LineGift of Steven W. Hays
DescriptionU.S. Army military uniform webbed canvas belt. Brown khaki. One end has rectangular brass-colored metal buckle with flat front face and rounded left and right ends. Other end has rectangular brown metal cap. DimensionsLength x Width x Depth: 35 x 1.75 x 0.5 in. (88.9 x 4.4 x 1.3 cm)Historical NotesPart of a collection that documents donor Steven W. Hays' father, Walter J. G. Hays, Jr.'s service in WWII. Walter J. G Hays, Jr. grew up at 5100 Bayard Street in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and attended Shady Side Academy. After high school he began to work at Sewickley Ice Company, which his father, William J. G. Hays, Sr., owned. Walter was drafted in 1943, trained in Bloomington, Illinois (where he met his future wife) and then was deployed to England. He trained for six months in England before participating in D-Day as well as the Battle of the Bulge, where he was wounded and received a Purple Heart. He ended his service in Berlin where his group was relieved by MP troops who came to keep peace in Berlin after the war. When he returned to the States he first went back to Bloomington to marry Lucille Nagrass, who he met when he was stationed there, and then returned to Pittsburgh and his job at the ice plant. While he was in the service he worked in refrigeration repair and served in the 3712th Quartermaster Truck Company.
Previous owner
Walter J. G. Hays Jr.
Related institution
3712th Quartermaster Truck Company
Related person
Lucille Nagrass
Related institution
Sewickley Ice Company
On View
Not on view
1943
1943-1945
1939-1945
