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Garrison / Overseas Cap


Johan Willaert
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My partner, Michelle, collects Nurse Corps items too and she has a French Made Ike Jacket and Skirt made in Paris and dated 1945. This has the typical ETO spec data like the British made items. So it seems there maybe more items out there made in France too.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here are 3 overseas caps my dad brought back. The bottom one is American made/issued. The others are English made. Dad said these were much desired over what was issued because these gave you the "jaunty" points at both ends. The American issued had a more WWI look with rounded points.

 

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I think these Brit made caps may have influenced the late war & post war type with a straight top. These are often called "Ft. Knox style caps", and when put on the head, they make a pronounced point on each end. I sure agree that the British made caps look better. One neat think about collecting overseas caps is that they don't take up much room if stored or displayed flat. Plus, there is no lack of vatiations to keep a collector looking.

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I am hoping someone here can help me with a unit ID on a garrison cap.

 

I recently bought a medal group with some associated militaria at an estate sale. The group belonged to a WWII veteran who also served (and was killed and awarded a Silver Star) in Korea. Almost all of the militaria is easily linked to this soldier; however, there are some photos with the group that are from WWI, from a soldier with another name. I have so far not been able to link the two soldiers.

 

One of the items included is the garrison cap pictured in the attached photographs. I'm not a general militaria collector so I don't know much about garrison caps, but I'm trying to disambiguate this one: it's either WWI and belonged to the solider with the photos (which I doubt), or WWII or Korea and belonged to the soldier with the medals. It would also be helpful if I could link it to a type of unit. The cap is olive drab with a straight top and a dark red cord with black stripes. Anything you can tell me about it would be hugely appreciated!

 

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(the code on the cap is hard to see from this picture, but it is D-659(8?))

 

In case this is helpful: the soldier with the medals served in the Medical Detachment of the USAT Santa Rosa in WWII, and then at Fort Jay in NY from about '48 to June '52, and finally as a Chief Medical Aidsman in the 224th Infantry Regiment, 40th Infantry Division in Korea from June '52 to his death in December '52.

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I don't know what branch it is either but I can tell you it in not a WWI hat. The straight top hat first appeared as a PX item late in WWII and were favored by Armour troops. They became standard issue replacing the curved top ones but I don't know the exact date. This one looks like an issue one because it is unlined and has a cloth sweat band. This one is probably post WWII- Korean War issue.

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I am sure you already know this, but the D-6598 or whatever is the first initial of the soldiers last name and the last 4 digits of his serial number. Do either of your soldiers have a last initial of D?

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General Apathy

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The answer to the cord color mystery could have already been posted on this site in a different section. It's agreed that the cap is not WWI and that it could be late WWII, but the colours mentioned could be WWI. I have brought that image forward onto this post so it's easily seen. Credit for the previous post goes to Garth Thompson. So is it possible that the owner of the cap had originally served in WWI and had carried the color of his cords forward, for whatever reason, currently serving WWII, VFW Member, Reunion gatherings or such. Lots of people refer to artillery piping as red however in the lists posted by Garth the army refer to it as Scarlet as they do with the Ordnance branch in WWI. In WWII Ordnance was Crimson & Yellow.

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Thanks for all the help!

 

I did not know about the D-XXXX. However, neither of my soliders had last names starting with a D, and I have the service number of the Korean War soldier and it doesn't match. So it could have been another member of the family, possibly. It's also possible that it was some sort of keepsake, e.g., the Korean War soldier brought back a German belt from WWII (which was included with his other effects and caused me to spend far too much money on a bunch of paperwork nobody else was interested in). I will have to do more digging. Thanks again for all your help! It's been very helpful, and significantly contributed to my education on this stuff.

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Thought you might like this one:

DEAD LINK 1/16/15

doinworkinvans

 

I've got something like 25-30 original WWII Airborne Garrison Caps, some of which you can see on these pages:

DEAD LINK 1/16/15

doinworkinvans

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