Krew

[Bob Hudson]

Once in a while the name KREW comes up in connection with USMC eagle globe and anchor insignia (and with other military branches as well).

 

Living near Camp Pendleton, I have accumulated a box full of "modern" EGAs in the 1955 pattern and quite a few are by KREW.

 

KREW Inc. of Attleboro, Mass. was founded in 1950 by Raymond U. Kelliher who served in the U.S. Army in WWII. It apparently was a family owned business until 1978. During its last few years of operations, one of the employees was the late James K. "Kenny" Murphy Jr., who a blood relative of Kelliher and who had served in the Marines from 1969 to 1974.

 

The earliest reference I can find to a KREW Marine Corps contract is for metal Sergeant Major's insignia date January 1961. One of our forum members reported being issued KREW collar EGA's in 1969. KREW had contracts at various times with all branches of the US military (as well as for other countries such as Saudi Arabia), even producing Navy SEAL qualification badges, but since the year 1999 they have had just one government contract, for about $6,000. It appears they may now make only non-metallic items. Their name shows up in some EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) reports so perhaps problems with the nasty chemicals used in electroplating drove them out of the metal insignia business. My own speculation is that their Marine Corps contracts were all in the 1960's.

 

While EGA collectors tend to look down on 1955 patterns EGA's, I have discovered there are not all alike and that overall the KREW brand look a whole lot better than the dull black ones with soft details issued today. The KREW's seemed especially nice for those who like to burnish their black EGA'S to get some metallic color showing through. They produced a nice bronze color, although there was one version (in the bottom row in the photo) that was very much brass colored. The EGA on the left side of the top row is a non-KREW EGA and does not have that rich bronze color. I have one other non-KREW EGA that has a bronze color similar to the KREWs, but I was kind of surprised today when I started sorting through the 1955 EGA's to discover that the ones with the nicest burnished color were mostly KREW. The second row from the top in the photo shows a non-KREW ega on the left and two black KREW EGA's. The KREWs seem to have a higher level of detail than I have found in most 1955 pattern EGAs. The EGA on the far right of that row does have some of the black rubbed off but the underlying metal is lighter than the bronze color of the top row. The bottom row shows a non-KREW "brass" EGA and a KREW brand. Both have shiny brass backs and seem almost identical. These are the only two EGA's I have with that color.

 

I have other KREW EGA's not shown in the photos and to sum up my observations, I would say that they overall are better quality than the typical 1955 pattern EGA. I have in my collection three distinct styles of KREW enlisted service collar EGA's:

 

 

Here are the KREW hallmarks. The Pieces with the nice bronze burnished look all have the mark right at the tiop edge of the wing. The non-burnished pieces have the mark near the middle of bottom of the wing.

 

[Bob Hudson]

Here are some closeups of the KREW EGA's (on the right) next to a non-KREW EGA.

 

This is the burnished KREW - notice its more bronze like color:

 

 

This is the black KREW (on the right). Notice the detailing in the wings and breast:

 

 

And here is the non-KREW and KREW brass colored EGAs:

 

[Bob Hudson]

Bob... and wonderful post with great research. Thank you for sharing. BTW... any markings on the reverese of the non-krew emblems?

 

I have just a few 1955 models with hallmarks including "S" in a circle (a clutchback), letter "V" (Vanguard I assume), and "L.I.G.I." (which has heavily reinforced attachment point for the screw).

 

I looked in another box and found a few matched burnished pairs with a bronze color very much like the KREWs. Those all had the number 362 on the back. I think they all came from the estate of a Sgt. Major who retired in 1973.

 

The newer very dull black ones with soft detailing are all unmarked.

 

It would be interesting to find out when the Marines stopped burnishing/rubbing the EGA's. I may post that question as a seperate thread. I will also have to take some photos of the other EGA marks and do a thread for those, maybe in the 1955 pattern reference section.

 

The 1955 pattern is over half a century old and while collectors tend to dismiss them, they have had their own evolution over the last 52 years and some of the early ones with the bronze color showing through are quite attractive. I will do reference section photo showing the evolution. I'm trying to remember though if they made a 55 pattern EGA in brown during that circa 1960 era when they had brown buttons on the Alphas?

[GLM]

I have just a few 1955 models with hallmarks including "S" in a circle (a clutchback), letter "V" (Vanguard I assume), and "L.I.G.I." (which has heavily reinforced attachment point for the screw).

 

I looked in another box and found a few matched burnished pairs with a bronze color very much like the KREWs. Those all had the number 362 on the back. I think they all came from the estate of a Sgt. Major who retired in 1973.

 

The newer very dull black ones with soft detailing are all unmarked.

 

It would be interesting to find out when the Marines stopped burnishing/rubbing the EGA's. I may post that question as a seperate thread. I will also have to take some photos of the other EGA marks and do a thread for those, maybe in the 1955 pattern reference section.

 

The 1955 pattern is over half a century old and while collectors tend to dismiss them, they have had their own evolution over the last 52 years and some of the early ones with the bronze color showing through are quite attractive. I will do reference section photo showing the evolution. I'm trying to remember though if they made a 55 pattern EGA in brown during that circa 1960 era when they had brown buttons on the Alphas?

 

Bob,

 

To answer a couple of your questions? First, I don't believe it was an adopted practice to "burnish" or rub the finish off of these emblems. I can't think of anything that would draw attention to you from a career Staff NCO, other than maybe dropping your rifle or getting caught with a "short timer" ribbon in your utility cover, than showing up for inspection or parade with the finish not completely black on your emblems. I imagine the emblems you show, and are in almost every collection in this condition, is simply from wear from being thrown in drawers, mishandled, etc.. The shiny black KREW emblem you show appears to have been refinished with EM-NU, a black enamel emblem paint that came in small bottles similar to fingernail polish. Every Marine owns a bottle and keeps his/her emblems completely black.

 

Yes, Enlisted Marines did wear "Brown" emblems, I believe, from 1955 until late 1962 when regulations changed the color to black. Because Marine Officer's only wore the "Brown" emblems for less than a year in 1962, those can be considered scarce or even rare in my opinion, but the Enlisted "Brown" emblems are on the common side of collecting. The brown finish on these EM emblems can sometimes appear to be a light shade of black, but all I have found have clutch back fasteners, so one way to distinguish between the two.

 

Here are photos of the black and brown Enlisted emblems side by side. The brown is on the right and if my photo shows them correctly, the colors are quite different. You will also notice in the reverse photo of the brown emblem that it is devoid of hallmarks. I haven't found one yet that has a hallmark, but then I'm not a big M1955 collector and only have 5 or 6 sets of "Browns" in this pattern, so it might be possible to find hallmarked examples. I might also add that all of the "Brown" EM emblems I have found have a unique appearance to the reverse, almost as if they were sculpted from a mold. They look as if chocolate was allowed to melt into a mold and then packed down, but they are stamped emblems, no mistaking that. I don't know which stamping technique was used, but they are very well made.

 

Gary

[GLM]

 

 

 

 

 

[WAHOOMAN]

LTC Miniature rank insignia Hallmarked Krew G-I

 

 

 

 

[WAHOOMAN]

Additional photo

 

 

 

[triplecanopy]

Here is the front and back side of a rarely seen and short lived USAF Master parachutist badge from 1956. It is marked 1K for Krew. Krew also made US Army Parachute badges that I will post later. Krew is another insignia company that is no longer in business.

[triplecanopy]

Here are the KREW marked Basic, Senior and Master Parachutist Badges. Note all three have different placement of the markings. These are all Sterling. The senior is flat back and the other two are hollow back. Evidently there are variations out there still to be located.