Surfman Insignia, with question

[wolventm]

Hello Members;

 

I recently acquired a gold colored USCG Surfman with numbers inside the life preserver "113". I know the numbered ones are very difficult to find, and I assume not used long after the beginning of WWII. Can anyone tell me where USCG Lifesaving Station 113 was located?

 

It came with an interesting assortment of items: a couple USCG chief or shore station tunic size buttons, a collar size Army Officer QM insignia, and one for TC, two of the blackened Surfman with no number, and, most interesting to me: a CPO type hat badge with the transportation wheel (Formerly Harbor Boat Service, by the time the TC insignia was used it was the Small Boat Section of the Water Transportation Division of the Transportation Corps). Also included was a WWI veteran's lapel button and a USCG honorable discharge button with the Treasury insignia inside the circle instead of the US Shield and crossed anchors. If it all belonged to one man, he had an interesting career in the "shallow water Navy".

[KurtA]

Hi-

I saw that group on Ebay and it looked pretty good. That was one of the very few #'d surfman pins I've seen that appeared to be original.

Sorry, but I don't know how to determine where that station was.

Kurt

[wolventm]

Hi-

I saw that group on Ebay and it looked pretty good. That was one of the very few #'d surfman pins I've seen that appeared to be original.

Sorry, but I don't know how to determine where that station was.

Kurt

Hi Kurt;

I have been stung a couple times on things that looked good in the photo but were not in person; however, I think this group was just what it was purported to be. I thought the price (around $80) was pretty reasonable, I had expected it to go higher. If you remember, you had to look at the photo very closely to see the gold surfman was numbered, the numbers were just sort of lost in the background.

I was pleased with the badly corroded late model HBS badge. I had just bought another on a hat that was an obvious "put togehter", which I could tell from the photo (in person it was even worse, black army chinstrap and army buttons on a contemporary rubberized Navy khaki billed hat). I had hoped the badge might be OK, and when I got it, I put it in my "maybe'/maybe not" category. It certainly appeared unused, if not new. The extremely corroded example with this group is from exactly the same die. Now, I am considering the one that came with the hat good but unissued. I also picked up one that I had been looking for over twenty years recently, a Harbor Boat Service with the QM insignia (the pre 1942 version). I think these have to be some of the rarest hat badges of WWII.

[Stinger Gunner USMC]

Surfman Insignia? Could someone please post a photo of this "surfman" insignia to inform those of us who are not knowledgeable on USCG items

Thanks

[wolventm]

Surfman Insignia? Could someone please post a photo of this "surfman" insignia to inform those of us who are not knowledgeable on USCG items

Thanks

[wolventm]

Hello Stinger Gunner;

 

Unfortunately, I do not have the capability to send a picture right now, but I will describe as follows Two upright crossed paddles with a life preserver right in the center. Most commonly seen in subdued blackened bronze, but earlier ones in gold. If you have any of the 1943 Geographics, it is shown there. In the 1944 "grayback" compilation issue it is on page 107. The text describes it as a hat badge (though I think it was also worn as a lapel insignia). The earlier issues have numbers inside the center of the life preserver which designate which particular Life Saving Station the person was connected with. In the 1930's the Life Saving Service had already been amalgamated into the USCG and people enlisted specifically to be a "Surfman" which was considered the equivalent of a PO3 in the seagoing branch of the USCG (at the time the USCG had a shore establishment branch and the seagoing branch wearing quite different uniforms. There is currently a surfman rating in the USCG which is a qualification beyond coxswain and surfmen today still specialize in life saving. At this time (late 30's) the USCG had a pretty complex organization, having taken over the life saving service, and the light house service as well as their sea going branch we are all familiar with.

 

PS: I am an old gunny (rret), quite familiar with Camp Margarita, 25 area off Basilone Drive, Pulgas etc. (not to mention many locations in Oceanside and National City)

[MastersMate]

A little bit on the "SURFMAN" insignia. More correctly it would be the CG Lifesaving Branch insignia. Hope this illustration will help out

 

The insignia was the 1915 - 1920 collar insignia for the Warrant KEEPER. When they became BOATSWAINS in 1920 the insignia shifted to use by enlisted men, as a cap and collar insignia The last usage by former men in the Lifesaving Branch would have been around 1960, when they would have retired out of service..

 

Station # 113 was on the south side of Barnegat Inlet, New Jersey.

 

 

[Garth Thompson]

Station 113 is Barnegat, New Jersey

 

https://www.uscg.mil/history/stations/BARNEGAT.pdf

[agate hunter]

A little bit on the "SURFMAN" insignia. More correctly it would be the CG Lifesaving Branch insignia. Hope this illustration will help out

 

The insignia was the 1915 - 1920 collar insignia for the Warrant KEEPER. When they became BOATSWAINS in 1920 the insignia shifted to use by enlisted men, as a cap and collar insignia The last usage by former men in the Lifesaving Branch would have been around 1960, when they would have retired out of service..

 

Station # 113 was on the south side of Barnegat Inlet, New Jersey.

 

 

MastersMate, great illustration, did you make it?

Answers some questions I've had on the years these insignia were worn. Thank you!