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Blue & gold chevrons 1948 - 1951


craig_pickrall
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JCFalkenbergIII
Yes and also in special gum/candy like coin machines, I remember them in the late 60s into the 70s, they where normal outside five and dime,s and had a whole differant bunch of patches to include these 48 types.

 

I remember those being from The Patch King when I was younger. Especially when I lived in Connecticut. :thumbsup: . I kept getting Ruptured Ducks and Navy Rates :lol: Robert

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If you refer to the drawings I posted in post # 14 you will see where revisions were made to the drawing changing it from men's insignia to female insignia. The title is WAC Insignia of Grade. The last photo shows the color for the female insignis is Chamos / Taupe which is the same colors as the WAC branch colors. The blue / gold chevrons were for men only. The women continued to use these chevrons long after the men stopped.

The optional blue uniform for enlisted women was authorized in 1957, with 2" gold-on-blue chevrons. Emerson says, "In anticipation of the very limited number of people who would need the small gold and blue women's chevrons, the Department of the Army authorized the dress chevrons designed for male personnel to be worn by women when the smaller WAC chevrons were not available." Gold-on-blue 2" chevrons were authorized for women and, I assume, were worn. That's why I said the gold-on-blue stripes for Sergeant Major were probably manufactured in female size in anticipation of women being promoted to that rank. If we're talking blue-on-gold, then no, I agree that female soldiers never wore them.

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I remember those being from The Patch King when I was younger. Especially when I lived in Connecticut. :thumbsup: . I kept getting Ruptured Ducks and Navy Rates :lol: Robert

 

Right, I only used those about 15 to 20 times in a 4 year period say,if I can remember they cost 25 cents ( hey, where is the cent symbol key, there is'nt one ? ) I did,nt like it after a while because all I ever got was the gold on black U.S. ARMY woven and Embroidered on black twill with border varient tapes, some WWII PFC and CPL stripes or 50s small specialists pairs and a few RD OD wool/woven or khaki on twill/woven types, I never got a "COOL" one. In and around 1974, the spring If I remember one of my friends got the 503rd ROCK patch, I did'nt believe him right, so I went to the one he told me he got it at a sure enough there they where in the machine, they must have restocked it with newer patches, I tried a few days later, zero, another simple patch, this one a pair of WWII PFC OD on wool stripes. Given that it was only early 1974 i going on the assumtion, that that 503 Rock patch was an original and in nowadays term's the WWII ranks and RDs, even the 50s and 60s U.S.ARMY tapes where not bad. I had all that stuff as part of my first collection.

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JCFalkenbergIII
Right, I only used those about 15 to 20 times in a 4 year period say,if I can remember they cost 25 cents ( hey, where is the cent symbol key, there is'nt one ? ) I did,nt like it after a while because all I ever got was the gold on black U.S. ARMY woven and Embroidered on black twill with border varient tapes, some WWII PFC and CPL stripes or 50s small specialists pairs and a few RD OD wool/woven or khaki on twill/woven types, I never got a "COOL" one. In and around 1974, the spring If I remember one of my friends got the 503rd ROCK patch, I did'nt believe him right, so I went to the one he told me he got it at a sure enough there they where in the machine, they must have restocked it with newer patches, I tried a few days later, zero, another simple patch, this one a pair of WWII PFC OD on wool stripes. Given that it was only early 1974 i going on the assumtion, that that 503 Rock patch was an original and in nowadays term's the WWII ranks and RDs, even the 50s and 60s U.S.ARMY tapes where not bad. I had all that stuff as part of my first collection.

 

 

Looking up The Patch King is what originally brought me here to this site :thumbsup: . Most of my collection back in the 70s and 80s came from The Patch King. Robert

 

Some of a few of the threads on the subject,

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...=The+Patch+King

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...=The+Patch+King

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...=The+Patch+King

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Looking up The Patch King is what originally brought me here to this site :thumbsup: . Most of my collection back in the 70s and 80s came from The Patch King. Robert

 

Some of a few of the threads on the subject,

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...=The+Patch+King

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...=The+Patch+King

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...=The+Patch+King

 

Maybe that 503rd ROCK patch my friend got and I could never score was a Patch King REPRO :w00t:

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JCFalkenbergIII
Maybe that 503rd ROCK patch my friend got and I could never score was a Patch King REPRO :w00t:

 

You never know :lol: . I know I had a few of them. Robert

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You never know :lol: . I know I had a few of them. Robert

When you say HAD A FEW, do you mean from out of those Gum ball machines like my pal ? or just in general ? its important to know, for if you got the 503rd ROCK repro patch king patches from the gum ball machine, then its a good chance the one my friend got was in fact the same repro ROCK patch.

 

THANKS FOR THE GUM BALL MICKEY ! remember that one, the old TV comericial. :D

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JCFalkenbergIII
When you say HAD A FEW, do you mean from out of those Gum ball machines like my pal ? or just in general ? its important to know, for if you got the 503rd ROCK repro patch king patches from the gum ball machine, then its a good chance the one my friend got was in fact the same repro ROCK patch.

 

THANKS FOR THE GUM BALL MICKEY ! remember that one, the old TV comericial. :D

 

Naw. Not from the gumball machines. From the mail order form. Yes. I think I had about 20 that I finally found out were Repros. I never got a 503rd though. Robert

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  • 1 year later...

The small buck Sergeants were made, but not used. The rank of sergeant was represented by the old Staff Sergeants chevron. Read Emerson's book "Chevrons". He explains this situation. From 1947 to 1958, the Army had no 3 stripe Sergeant rank. That broke a 100 year tradition of 3 stripes being worn by the lowest Sergeant rank.

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That chart looks like it was made in anticipation of the enlisted grade restructuring that was hashed out 1946-1948. It shows PFC with two stripes, corporal three, and then there are sergeants 1st, 2nd and 3rd Class with rockers. That format did not come to pass. When two rockers were proposed as Sergeant 1st Class and one rocker as Sergeant 2nd Class (with Master Sgt on top) it is reported that Chief of Staff Omar Bradley said something like "We may have second class sergeants in the army, but I'll be damned if we're going to call them that!" As it turned out, three stripes was eliminated, buck sergeant got one rocker and two rockers for SFC.

 

Edit to add:

The image is small so it's hard to see, but it looks like three rockers is identified as Master Sergeant, not Sergeant 1st Class as I originally posted. It seems odd, then, that the other two with rockers are called Sergeant 2nd Class and 3rd Class.

 

If you go back to #14 in this thread, craig_pickrall posted official drawings dated 1946 where the three stripes for corporal have been crossed out.

 

It is an interesting piece for sure, thanks for the post.

 

Justin B.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Can someone help me identify this one? It came in a bag of other patches, there was only one of these. Sorry for not taking a picture with it next to something else for size comparison. I would say it is a little longer than a standard cigarette if that help. Thank you all.

 

kegsqx.jpg

 

3486144.jpg

 

 

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Salvage Sailor

That's a short lived 1948 - 1951 US Army chevron (upside down too)

 

Rather than recount the details, here's a good reference thread on the Forum

 

Blue & Gold Chevrons 1948 - 1951

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/15917-blue-gold-chevrons-1948-1951/

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That is the rank insignia for a US Army Master Sergeant from the 1948 to 1951 time period. The blue on gold chevrons were for combat troops, and non-combat troops wore gold on blue.

 

These chevrons were disliked by most everyone, and did not last long.

 

As shown in your photos, it is upside down. It should be pointy side up.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you for the help! I guess I should learn to use the search box on the forum more before I ask questions :-)

Well let you Squeak by this time Squeaker :lol:

 

Btw welcome to the Forum :)

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I've done the same thing multiple times.

 

But do post questions because there are plenty of us who like to answer them.

 

I for one think it's fun.

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  • 8 months later...

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