Unknown Herringbone Twill Cap

[VMI88]

I picked up this cap at the flea market yesterday and don't have a clue what it is. It's made of HBT and cut like a USMC overseas cap, very similar to unofficial examples I've seen from World War II. This is unusual in that it has two insignia with the letters "VRM" pinned to it. One pin is secured by stitches and the other is just pinned loosely below it; I suspect it was just done to keep the second one from getting lost. I've searched the internet for "VRM" with no success. Any thoughts?

[VMI88]

Here's a close-up shot of the pins. They appear to be jeweler made as the letters are hand cut from sheet brass and soldered to a par with a safety pin back. As noted above, one of the pins is further secured to the cap with thread, so it definitely belongs here.

[VMI88]

On the other side of the cap is an embroidered "81" within an oval.

[VMI88]

Here's a shot showing the stitching detail. It was obviously done by hand. The owner's initials are also stitched inside using the same thread. To further confuse matters, the initials match those of a USAAF airman on some paperwork that came with the cap, though I've never seen anything like this in the AAF. Of course it could have belonged to a family member who just happened to have the same initials.

[GIl Sanow]

Some years back I acquired a similar cap -- clearly made from an old (recycled?) HBT shirt! You could see where he pocket was removed before it was assembled! I was told that post-war GI's wore these as fatigue caps because no other HBT cap was available, possibly in Germany.

 

I am not sure what happened to it, but if I find it, I will post pix.

 

G

[VMI88]

Some years back I acquired a similar cap -- clearly made from an old (recycled?) HBT shirt! You could see where he pocket was removed before it was assembled! I was told that post-war GI's wore these as fatigue caps because no other HBT cap was available, possibly in Germany.

Thanks for the information. It's not so much the cap that puzzles me; I have a similar one in my collection. It's the unusual embroidery and insignia that I've never seen anything like before.

 

Bill

[etienne]

Seems that the thread of the HBT is of Army type, not USMC ... like said previously, it's probably some recycled cloth.

[VMI88]

Just thought I'd bump this topic as I still haven't had any luck researching this cap.

[VMI88]

I was going through my collection the other night and ran across this cap. It's still a mystery so I thought I'd bump the topic again to see if anyone knew anything about it.

[VMI88]

I thought I'd bring this topic back up since I've found a possible answer. The Virginia Reserve Militia was formed in 1942 to guard key infrastructure sites. I've found a little information on them online:

 

 

On May 18, 1942, Brigadier General S. Gardner Waller, Virginia’s Adjutant General, announced the mission of the VRM:

To furnish immediate local protection against saboteurs and raiding parties,

destroying them or serving as a holding force, pending the arrival of better

equipped troops.

 

I found one picture showing a member of the VRM wearing an HBT coverall and Daisy Mae cap. I haven't yet found a cap like mine but I'm sure uniforms varied a great deal. Each county or city provided a company. The companies were numbered, so "81" could easily represent that.

 

Each county or city was to form one company, commanded by a captain and two lieutenants, with 50 enlisted men. Companies consisted of two platoons of four squads each. Each squad, lead by a corporal, was organized by locality.

 

The quotes are from the document "Stafford Soldiers and the Virginia Reserve Militia (VRM)", which can be found with a Google search.

[mysteriousoozlefinch]

I know this is a three year old thread, but having just looked at the service records for the VRM, I can tell you that he 81st Company was located in Roanoke County, as was the 181st which was specifically in Salem.

 

Apologies for the small size. One of the company commander's service index card.

[VMI88]

Just saw your response, but thanks for the information! Where did you find the VRM records?

[mysteriousoozlefinch]

Library of Virginia has VPF/VSG and VRM service record cards on microfilm!

 

I had them specifically to identify men who served in Prince William County's records but also tried to gather enough data to build a picture of the organization's table of organization.

[manayunkman]

What an interesting cap!

 

Those insignia are super cool as is the embroidery.

 

I would think it's someone in leadership.

 

Is there a name in it?

 

Made up of local volunteers?

 

Did they have a uniform?

[VMI88]

The cap has initials embroidered in it and I have the family name from some documents that came with it. I should be able to find the original owner or at least narrow it down to a couple now that I know where the records are located.

 

I've found a couple of pictures of the uniforms on the web that weren't available when I first started researching this. Here's a picture of the Stafford company in uniform:

 

 

 

[VMI88]

Here are pictures of a shirt from Worthpoint:

 

 

Apparently it was made locally by a company called "Sweet Orr".

[VMI88]

Close-up of the patch and stripes:

 

 

If anyone has any of these uniforms or insignia for sale or trade please let me know!

 

 

[mysteriousoozlefinch]

Yes sir! I've been looking for originals (that uniform went up while I was living away from internet), and have been working on putting together living history kit for the VRM. My research was for an upcoming exhibit at the Manassas Museum on Prince William County's home front in WWII, compiling roster data for the county's two companies (77th and 177th).

[manayunkman]

That is really cool stuff.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post those pictures of the group and uniform.