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a bulletin board covered with military memorabilia and other itemsan old book sitting on top of a white cloth covered tablea picture of a painting of a black and white cat on a skateboardan image of a piece of paper with a pattern on ittwo black and white photos of a man in a sweater and a man in a white shirta close up of a passport with a picture of a man and an american flagan old letter from a man who is holding up a piece of paperan old black and white photo of a calendar on a wallsix polaroid photographs of a polaroid camera with a polaroid lensa person holding a polaroid picture of a boat in the watera person holding a card with a picture of a plane in the watera person holding a small card with a picture of a person on ita person holding a small polaroid picture in their handa hand holding a small card with a picture of the earthan image of a close up of a badge on a white surfacea picture of a piece of art that is on a tablean old book with a picture of a man holding a baseball batan old photo of a book with a bunch of men in military uniformsan old black and white photo of a group of men in military uniformsan open book with a bunch of pictures on it on a tablea book with pictures of people in a laba book with a bunch of pictures of men in suitsan old book with a black and white photo of a man working on a machinean open book with a picture of an american flag on ita close up of a piece of brown paper on a white surfacean old photo of a group of men in uniform posing for a picturean old photo of a man in a military uniforman old book with a bell hanging from it ' s covera bell hanging from a chain with a calendar in the backgrounda black and white photo of a man in a military uniforman old book with a red button on it sitting on a tablean old photo of an old book with a calendar on itthree old calendars sitting on top of each other on a tableblack and white photo of a group of men in front of an airplanean old photo of a small plane flying in the skya black and white photo of a group of men posing for a pictureblack and white photo of a group of men in uniform posing in front of an airplaneseveral old black and white photos of a man and a womanfour black and white photographs of a beach with a few hutsseveral old black and white photos of people and vehicles on a wallfour black and white photographs of a snow covered area with treestwo old black and white photos of an aerial view of a cityfour black and white photographs of a city with smoke coming out of it
Premium Maître Lydie BRIOULT

Personal collection of Staff Sergeant Bernard Bloom, 455th B…
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Estimate €300 - €500
Sale commission
Description
Personal collection of Staff Sergeant Bernard Bloom, 455th Bomb Group – 15th Air Force – Italy (41 original photographs, insignia, ‘Blood Chit’ identity card) Staff Sergeant Bloom was posted to the 753rd Bomb Squadron of the 455th Bomb Group. He flew combat missions in late 1944 and early 1945 as a radio operator and gunner. This collection includes his identity card bearing a gunner’s certificate from the Yuma training base in Arizona, his 15th Air Force identity card featuring an American eagle, a flag and a message in several languages to helphelp from the civilian population in the event of a landing in an occupied zone, a standard-issue pair of S/Sgt rank insignia, a 455th Bomb Group leather patch with incised detailing (locally made in Italy), a 15th Air Force shoulder insignia embroidered in canette thread, passport-sized photographs in civilian clothing to be used to produce false identity documents in the event of a landing in an occupied zone, 5 rare Kodachrome colour photographs taken in flight, occupation banknotes dated 1943, a prayer book for Jewish personnel in the US armed forces, and the training manual for radio operators from the Sioux Falls base, in which Bloom appears in the roll of honour. A large khaki fabric pouch contains several original photographs, starting with pictures of the nose art on the B-24 ‘TEPEE TIME GAL’, of crew members from that aircraft (suggesting that Bloom likely flew on this aircraft), and a photograph of the same aircraft in flight, as well as two crew photographs in which he can be seen kneeling in the centre. Several photographs of Bloom in USAAF cadet uniform, in flight uniform and in dress uniform, in which one can see the famous ‘Capri Bell’ lucky charm hanging from the buttonhole of the breast pocket of his dress jacket. His ‘Capri Bell’, dated 1944, is also part of the collection, along with the 1945 calendar published by the 455th BG. The collection is rounded off by larger-format photographs taken during combat missions, including the dates and identification of targets with the notation ‘455BG’, which accompany several photographs of various sizes—some of which were taken aboard a B-24 with Bloom manning the side gunner’s position— whilst others show the tents in which the men were quartered at the San Giovanni base in Italy. Despite initial research, it has not been possible to compile a list of the missions flown by Bloom. The locally made 455th BG insignia alone is worth nearly €400 (Grégory Pons Collection)
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About the sale Sale of the Grégory Pons collection and miscellaneous items (Aviation and WW2 Militaria)
Auction location
Auction time 11/14/2026 at 1:30 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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