Incomplete ww2 usmc uniforms

[SergeantMajorGray]

Have any of you guys noticed lots of ww2 marine dress uniforms with rank on only one sleeve of the uniform? Sometimes with no evidence of one ever being sewn on the other sleeve.

[jguy1986]

They're not incomplete. It was a measure to conserve the number of chevrons in the system during the war.

[Captainofthe7th]

If I remember this was something that occurred post-WWII when the military was demobilizing and it was half the cost/material to use the single chevron rather than two.

 

Oh jguy just beat me! Now I don't remember if it was wartime or post war, but the idea is the same - not incomplete, but a cost/material saving measure.

 

Rob

[SergeantMajorGray]

Thanks that's very interesting I wouldn't have thought it was allowed in the regulations.

[nicolas75]

That's an interseting question as i own a jacket that has a similar juste one sleeve rank with insignas

[RustyCanteen]

IIRC, it was a change approved in 1943. Somewhere there is a notice documenting it, and I think it was even posted once.

[RustyCanteen]

See this: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/261135-usmcwr-was-single-rank-worn-if-so-when/?p=2097465

[sfcmac]

I have three WWII 3d Marine Division uniforms, all three only have one chevron. In talking to the owner of one of these, he is still alive, he said they never had two chevrons. All my other WWII Marine uniforms have chevrons on both sleeves.

 

sfcmac

[themick]

Rusty Canteen's link provides the answer. That same 1942 order is mentioned in the insignia issue of National Geographic Magazine of June, 1942. The reality is that during the war you would see Marines wearing chevrons/hash marks on just the left sleeve, or both sleeves.

 

Steve