USMC HBT stencil ranks

[TheLetterOpener]

I was wondering how commonly ranks were stenciled on to USMC HBT's in WWII. I've seen stenciled HBT's before but I wonder if this was actually done alot.

[CUBUSMC]

I am not the world authority, but I can tell you what I have been told by several Marine vets and my uncle who served from Guadalcanal to post war. I have been told that the stenciling of rank insignia on HBTs was not common at all in WWII. And it is hard to find pictures of Marines in WWII with stenciled chevrons. Now I have been shown pictures of Marines wearing stenciled on stripes, but honestly I could not determine if they were WWII pictures or Korean pictures. After the war it became common place and continued until the metal rank insignia was issued. Now right off hand I cannot remember when the metal insignia started, but someone here will look it up. Infact, I have a plastic stencil kit that was sold in the 50's to Marines to make this task much easier. - Jeff

[craig_pickrall]

The metal pin on rank insignia used by the USMC started approximately in 1953.