Question about WW2 USAAF SSG chevrons--B-25 crewman

[CW4AFB]

The Virginia National Guard recently received an incredible donation of the medals. patches, paperwork, photos, personal records etc of Richmond Virginia man who served in the PTO as a crewmember on a B-25 in the 7th Air Force--

 

they operated in the Marshall Islands where he reached is 50 mission mark and then was sent home with 2 DFCs, 2 Purple hearts and bunch of air medals--

 

they flew originally off Tarawa, of all places, and there are many photos of the aircrew posing in Japanese bunkers etc--

 

what's nice is he took many photos of the nose art in his squadron as well as photos in the air of the planes during the missions--

 

here's my question--as you can see from the picture he has wings inside his stripes as do some of the other guys in the pictures but other guys with the same rank in some of the photos don't have wings ---and those are his stripes with wings

 

is it something as simple as guys on flight status had wings in their stripes and non-flight status guys didn't? It works for SSG rank but would look a little strange with sgt's or cpl's stripes ...

 

ideas?

Al

[tredhed2]

ASMIC members know we have pubbed recent articles about these unauthorized (WW 2) chevrons. They were private purchase items at that time worn by both ground and aircrew personnel.

[CW4AFB]

ASMIC members know we have pubbed recent articles about these unauthorized (WW 2) chevrons. They were private purchase items at that time worn by both ground and aircrew personnel.

Tred--thanks much for the info---I had no idea---the stripes are really well made so I assumed/guessed that they were official but now I know and will that info to the files---when I get the chance I will also post here the patch for his B-25 -Vicious Virgin II -- that he wore on his flight jacket---

 

s/f

Al