HBO The Pacific, John Basilone, Seda USMC Dress Uniform, Dog Tags, Gold Cross
John Basilone's (Jon Seda) Class- A uniform worn in episode 8 when attempting to woo the reluctant Lena and to their subsequent wedding. The patches match this aarrangement and are screen matched. The olive drab jacket features his sergeant stripes, a four year service stripe on the cuff and 5th division insignia (marked "Basilone" in the armpit) with a leather belt, a pair of matching trousers (size 30 marked "Basilone") with a canvas belt, a khaki shirt with Sgt insignia (size1 marked "Basilone"), brown leather dress shoes (marked "Basilone") and socks. John and Lena Basilone's (Jon Seda & Annie Parisse) gold cross necklace and spare chains from The Pacific.
Lena wears this gold colored cross (cross isnt metal) and necklace through most of episode 8. Being Italian this gold cross means alot to Lena.She eventually gives the cross to Jon on their honeymoon. She gives it to him for protection on his upcoming deployment and to represent her love. You can tell from the episode how much this gester meant to each of them. This gold cross is in slightly tarnished worn condition, and came in a small ring box marked "Basilone Gold Cross 55cm Chain x2 + 1 spare chain" and the two chains not currently holding the cross are in a small griplock bag labelled " Spare chain for Basilone/Lena Cross 55cm". The production team spent no expense for detail in this production.
You will notice the tattoo to John's left arm. It is identical to the tattoo that was on John basilone's left arm. It says " Death before Dishonor". Also included is John Basilone's (Jon Seda) Dog Tags worn in the 2010 TV mini-series The Pacific. The silver discs have "Basilone, John" stamped into the metal along with his ID number, blood type and date of tetanus jab 5/44. The discs are hung from a brown leather strap and wrapped with leather to ensure they didn't jangle on set. The tags measure 4cm x 3cm (1.5" x 1.25") and are in a great condition with some of the glue holding on the leather edging beging to come away. These were probably worn by John Basilone in episode 8. During the different episodes you will notice that each character in the series would have different types of dog tags with different dates as to their tetanus jab as the war went on that would relate around the time of that period of the episode they were in. Some characters the date remained the same.But for Lekie, Sledge, and Basilone you will find different dates. As far as I know this dog tag with 5/44 would of been the last time Basilone got a shot before Iwo Jima. John Basilone got married July 10, 1944. That would mean this was used in episode 8 during the battle of Iwo Jima which was Feb 19-March 26, 1945.
The production company when making dog tags, bracelets, or whatever were very meticulous to detail. And to the time periods the pieces were to be in.