WW2 EMs' overseas caps with BOS braid.

[Sabrejet]

I have quite a large sub-collection of overseas caps (60+) Apart from being an essential accessory to “top off” a uniform they are also very collectible in their own right given the number of variants which exist, particularly in regard to their BOS coloured braids. I’ve tried to collect as many BOS variants as possible in both winter OD and summer khaki versions and have been reasonably successful in acquiring such “matched” pairs. I recently added a further selection of braided khaki examples to the collection, including some less common variants, as illustrated below. Hopefully, they will also be a useful source of reference for some of our younger and less experienced collectors?

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Artillery....red.

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Chemical Corps....cobalt blue and yellow. Sometimes mistaken for the AAF!

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Army Air Forces....aquamarine and golden orange.

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Infantry....pale blue.

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Transportation Corps...brick red and golden yellow (easy to confuse with the crimson/yellow of the Ordnance Corps.)

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Engineers....red and white.

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Cavalry...yellow.

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Tank Destroyer....golden orange/black

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Military Police...yellow/green

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Medical Corps...maroon/ white

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Officers'.....black/gold

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EMs' khaki overseas cap with no braid.

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Bear in mind that the two-colour braids came in various forms....candy-twist, flecked and striped, most of which can be seen in the examples above. All are equally valid. It just depended upon available supplies from the various manufacturers.

[Third Herd]

My Dad who was a WWII Veteran said the striped piping was the issue and the others were PX or private purchase.

[Ricardo]

Armored:

 

[Ricardo]

Airborne Artillery: red.

 

[Ricardo]

Airborne Infantry: pale blue.

 

[Ricardo]

Reference:

 

 

[Sabrejet]

Thanks for the additions Ricardo. I'll maybe post my ODs in another thread sometime?

[patches]

All good stuff, the Tank Destroyer one's I understand are the hardest to find, correct?

[Sabrejet]

All good stuff, the Tank Destroyer one's I understand are the hardest to find, correct?

 

Hi Kevin. Yes...rather thin on the ground, so naturally I was delighted to find the example you see here just yesterday for the princely sum of £5!

[Allan H.]

All good stuff, the Tank Destroyer one's I understand are the hardest to find, correct?

 

No, they aren't all that difficult compared to FSSF! There were other specific units that also used a red, white and blue piping (often sold as FSSF) that are also pretty darned hard to find.

 

Allan

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FSSF red/white/blue cap braid as referred to by Allan.

[Glenn_Janssens]

Very informative topic.

Keep them coming plz