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Transitional Ike? And WWII Overseas cap question...


Martinjmpr
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Wife likes to shop at antique and thrift stores and I sometimes come across uniform items .

 

First up is what seems to me to be a very late Ike jacket.

 

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Patch is Army 2nd Missile Command from Ft Hood, TX. I actually can’t find a unit history for them but they seem to have existed from the mid 50’s to the early 60’s.

 

Note the old style of Specialist patch. I believe this rank would have been called “SP/3” (specialist 3rd class) prior to 1958 and SP/4 after that.

 

According to Stanton’s book, 1960 was the wear-out date for this uniform.

 

I was able to find a unit yearbook for the 2nd Missile Command for 1958-59 and I suppose this uniform could be contemporary to that time frame.

 

There were no other patches than what you see and no ribbons, badges or other accoutrements.

 

 

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Next up is my question . I found what appears to be a WWII style overseas cap. But it has no branch-colored piping.

 

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When did the branch colored piping get added to OS caps?

 

Here’s a photo of the label with a 1942 date:

 

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Is this just an early OS cap or maybe some other service than the Army? Did the Navy have khaki caps like this?

 

 

 

 

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Yeah, too late. The 2nd was authorized it's patch from 1961 to 1962. By that time the new AG uniform and specialist ranks were already well in use by then. The older specialist ranks were already in use by the WAC by 1960......

 

-Ski

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My theory is that he must have joined up some time before 1957 when they started issuing the AG uniform and was issued one of the last Ike jacket uniforms.

 

By the time the wear-out date of the Ike was approaching he was nearing his separation date and saw no reason to spend money on a new uniform, so he just got an AG hashmark from the supply sergeant and had it sewn onto his ike.

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Also, according to Shelby Stanton's Cold War book, for about a year '57-'58 recruits were issued one Ike and one AG, then two AG thereafter.

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To show that IKEs could and were worn together with the new uniform in formation, I post this photo of Elvis' platoon in West Germany in late 1958 here we see two Spec 4s wearing them and with the old small rank. Indeed the small rank continued to be seen being worn by males for whatever reason well into the 60s.

 

post-34986-0-93918400-1354219671.jpg

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