Cracker Jack Uniform

[cagedfalcon]

Picked this you a few week back.

Belonged to Walter Kenneth Johnson.

 

Field repair back on shirt. All buttons present but one hanging on by a threas.

 

Related to Abraham Desommer, MOH winner.

 

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190706/2f7fc419cc76268c804a19307952138e.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190706/99d9d5e06573bb0e200ee1dc35c49f67.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190706/f6301b89b26727f36e9e2fcd81adb6fb.jpg

 

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[Allan H.]

Nice dress uniform for a member of the "black shoe" gang. The red stripe is for sailors in engineering billets. Your jumper is interesting as it is rather unusual to find a red striper with a hash mark.

 

The uniform is tailor made as evidenced by the silk lining and the yellow stitching inside. Sometimes they will have a tailor's label from Hawaii or some other exotic location.

 

I've told this story before, but every time I see a red striper, it makes me think of my former neighbor who was a WWII sailor. As they were getting off the boat in Shanghai, the locals started asking about the white stripes on the shoulders of some of the sailors. These guys told the local girls that the white stripe meant that they were declared to be free of venereal disease. They then told the local girls to be wary of the men wearing red stripes on their shoulders as they had been determined to have V.D." Of course the local girls kept away from the guys with the red stripes.

 

Allan

[sigsaye]

Nice dress uniform for a member of the "black shoe" gang. The red stripe is for sailors in engineering billets. Your jumper is interesting as it is rather unusual to find a red striper with a hash mark.

 

The uniform is tailor made as evidenced by the silk lining and the yellow stitching inside. Sometimes they will have a tailor's label from Hawaii or some other exotic location.

 

I've told this story before, but every time I see a red striper, it makes me think of my former neighbor who was a WWII sailor. As they were getting off the boat in Shanghai, the locals started asking about the white stripes on the shoulders of some of the sailors. These guys told the local girls that the white stripe meant that they were declared to be free of venereal disease. They then told the local girls to be wary of the men wearing red stripes on their shoulders as they had been determined to have V.D." Of course the local girls kept away from the guys with the red stripes.

 

Allan

. Mostly correct. Black Shoe Gang (never heard it referred to as Gand), Black Shoes were any non aviation Sailors. You may be thinking Black Gang. Old term. Also called Snipes.

 

Tailor Made is sort of a misnomer. These uniforms were available for sale is shops off base, or wherever US Navy ships routinely made port. They would alter them, but mostly just got them off the rack. Sometimes, if the Sailor had time and extra funds, he would get his name embroidered inside.

 

Until 1944(ish), Engineering ratings (at least MM, had no PO3s. You sat at F1/c (Fireman Girst Class, but with and increase in pay, then went to PO2. He could have had a mistake in judgment , couldnt pass the test for advancement, or simply chose not to advance because he didnt want to deal with the added responsibilities. I knew guys like that in the days before High Uear Tenure (Up or Out). He was war time only, so advancement might not have been that important to him.

 

Repairs are pretty cool. The Navy was not as picky about such things then. It was not a regulation uniform, so would not be worn for duty or inspections. I have one of my dads undress blue jumpers that has a similar repair.

 

Really a nice uniform. Havent seen many with brown lining. Its possible it has Oxidized over the years. Depending on where it was made, that fabric could have been Iron dyed, so basically, rust.

[cagedfalcon]

Thank you both Allan H & sigsaye. Naval items are not something I usually pick up.

 

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[Allan H.]

Sigsaye,

 

I'm a little lost on the "black shoe gang" as that is what the neighbor called the sailors working in the engine room- the "below deck" sailors if you will. Perhaps he was remembering things incorrectly and should have just used the term "black gang."

 

As for the reference to "tailor made," I guess I should have more appropriately said "private purchase" though the labels normally are those of a tailor in areas teeming with sailors. These jumpers are usually tailored to a very tight fit; so much so that a lot of them have zippers sewn into the seams to allow the swabbie to get in and out of them.

 

The repair to the jumper is the same type of repair that you see on canvas when it is torn. We repaired canvas in the army with this exact type of stitching.

 

Allan

[sigsaye]

Sigsaye,

 

I'm a little lost on the "black shoe gang" as that is what the neighbor called the sailors working in the engine room- the "below deck" sailors if you will. Perhaps he was remembering things incorrectly and should have just used the term "black gang."

 

As for the reference to "tailor made," I guess I should have more appropriately said "private purchase" though the labels normally are those of a tailor in areas teeming with sailors. These jumpers are usually tailored to a very tight fit; so much so that a lot of them have zippers sewn into the seams to allow the swabbie to get in and out of them.

 

The repair to the jumper is the same type of repair that you see on canvas when it is torn. We repaired canvas in the army with this exact type of stitching.

 

Allan

. It can get confusing. My dad was Black Gang, working in propulsion spaces for 20 years. I was a Top Sider, for 26, working on deck and the bridge. We were both Black Shoes, (except for those 2 years when I was part of Naval Aviation and was an Airedale).

 

Repairs of that type were generally done is the Sail Loft (canvas shop/Bosuns Locker. They had industrial sewing machines for sewing canvas, so the similarity in style. I occasionally had lighter machines up on the signal bridge for repairing flags, so was able to do a bit finer work

[patches]

Jake Holman to Cap'n Collins: Black Gangs Should Stand Their Watch in the Engine Room!

[ON PATROL]

This may, for the most part, be preaching to the choir, but for those unfamiliar; black gang duty was indeed down in the propulsion spaces, the boiler rooms and engine rooms. Engineering types that did not work there, the auxiliary machinery guys / "fresh air snipes", were not black gang. The term originated back when coal and then later, bunker oils were used for fuel. As one might imagine, those working with that stuff commonly were blackened by the fuel and/or the soot produced by combustion.

[sigsaye]

The term Black Shoe, comes from the early 20th century. Early Naval Aviators wore uniforms made of the same fabric as Marines, both green and later Khaki, (because they were shore based for the most part). They wore brown shoes and boots. So, to them, anyone MOT Naval Aviation, was just a Black Shoe.

[ON PATROL]

. . . which was because the aviation branch originated from the cavalry, who wore brown boots, as was much of their tack after the Civil War. Early flyers also wore the jodhpurs pants. As for the silk scarves, they were not for style or panache, but because flyers are constantly turning their heads and looking around and the coats they wore would otherwise chafe the hell out of the flyer, hence the silk.