WW2 US Navy 13 Button Trousers IDd to USS Saratoga Kamikaze Survivor

This pair of trousers is the standard issue to sailors.

This pair is named and identified to Claude Copher Phillippe.  Phillippe enlisted in the Navy on September 7, 1943 and had service number 866 74 31.  He was almost 30 years old then.  He served as a Storekeeper on the USS Saratoga from December 1943 until the end of the War.

The Saratoga, with Phillipe on bard, was nearly sunk by three Kamikaze hits off of Iwo Jima in February 1945 plus five bomb strikes.  The attached ships rosters show this sailor was aboard the USS Saratoga before and after the Kamikaze attacks.  He was aboard during other campaigns in 1944.

The USS Saratoga earned eight battle stars. No doubt Phillippe saw much action.  These trousers were undoubtedly aboard during all these battles.

They have a 33 inch waist by 29 inch inseam.

The newspaper clipping is from October 1945.