hirsca Posted October 28, 2012 Share #1 Posted October 28, 2012 Living here in Texas, I run across a lot of TAMU items. Estate sale find today. This is a studio portrait of what I believe to be a Texas Agrigultural and Mechanical College (predicessor to Texas A&M) student member of the Corps of Cadets. No date, no name. But hand written in the lower right had corner of the portrait are the words: Your Boy. Signal Corps insignia is in a strange place, and I can't determine what the shoulder insignia are. Same for the ribbon bar, but the last ribbon has an R on it. Any help on further information is much appreciated. Thanks, Al. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patches Posted October 28, 2012 Share #2 Posted October 28, 2012 What Shoulder insignia? Do you men the rank insignia on the shoulder loops right? The Signal Corps Branch badges I would think either signify that he was in some sort of communications section among the Corps of Cadets, or he wore this Signal Corps insignia because he has chosen this as his Branch of choice to enter after graduation, but on this final idea I'm not sure that this might of been a pratice in them days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hirsca Posted October 28, 2012 Author Share #3 Posted October 28, 2012 Sorry, yes, I meant the rank insignia on the shoulder loops. Even with a magnifying glass I can't make them out. As for the Signal Corps badge, I thought that its placement was unusually high up on his collar--more like where it would have been positioned on the WW1 era standing collar tunics. Must have been the norm at the time. Any idea on the ribbon bar? Thanks, Al. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m1ashooter Posted October 28, 2012 Share #4 Posted October 28, 2012 Whoop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cavdoc83 Posted October 28, 2012 Share #5 Posted October 28, 2012 Sorry, yes, I meant the rank insignia on the shoulder loops. Even with a magnifying glass I can't make them out. As for the Signal Corps badge, I thought that its placement was unusually high up on his collar--more like where it would have been positioned on the WW1 era standing collar tunics. Must have been the norm at the time. Any idea on the ribbon bar? Thanks, Al. Ditto on that Whoop, Ag! The rank insignia appear to be Cadet 1st Lieutenant: two silver discs. This pic must be from the mid 1920's. There are no dui's on the epaulettes, and I believe that they were wearing the "AMC" brass by the 1930's. As to the branch insignia, A&M's cadet corps was organised into company sized units that were branch specific up to the early 1960's. There were Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery units. There may very well have been a Signal unit. Or as "Patches" said, he may be showing his soon-to-be-commissioned branch choice. As for placement, it seems to me that I have seen at least one regular army officer wearing his branch insignia far up on his collar very soon after the introduction of the M1926 uniform coat. That may have been the original brass placement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hirsca Posted October 28, 2012 Author Share #6 Posted October 28, 2012 Cavdoc83--Many thanks for the great information. Al. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patches Posted October 28, 2012 Share #7 Posted October 28, 2012 Is there a definative colour plate of Army Rotc ribbons? I can't seem to get any hits when I just did a search, of course it would be ideal for our purposes if these plates were ROTC ribbons of all time periods, not just contemporary one's, is there a site for this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hirsca Posted October 28, 2012 Author Share #8 Posted October 28, 2012 Great thought patches. Were they standardized throughout the college R.O.T.C. programs? If so, there has to be a color plate out there somewhere. Thanks, Al. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cavdoc83 Posted October 28, 2012 Share #9 Posted October 28, 2012 The ribbons could be either general ROTC or unique to A&M. I'd bet that the first ribbon on this chap's bar is maroon and white. In my day, that was either outstanding cadet, or best drilled (I don't remember which). Those were A&M awards. I can't imagine what his second ribbon with the R on it might be. To follow on to my previous post, a cursory Google search turned up these pics near the bottom of this site: http://www.charlottes-web.com/Ed_Carl_history2.htm They show the AMC brass being used with the branch insignia as early as 1927. That still doesn't explain the brass placement on your pic's subject, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hirsca Posted October 28, 2012 Author Share #10 Posted October 28, 2012 The ribbons could be either general ROTC or unique to A&M. I'd bet that the first ribbon on this chap's bar is maroon and white. In my day, that was either outstanding cadet, or best drilled (I don't remember which). Those were A&M awards. I can't imagine what his second ribbon with the R on it might be. To follow on to my previous post, a cursory Google search turned up these pics near the bottom of this site: http://www.charlotte...rl_history2.htm They show the AMC brass being used with the branch insignia as early as 1927. That still doesn't explain the brass placement on your pic's subject, though. Excellent research on the dating of the wearing the A.M.C. collar brass. Many thanks to Cavdoc83. Al. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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