Army "cross-hatched" chevrons

[Bob Hudson]

I normally don't buy patches or other cloth insignia but I picked up several items today at the estate sale of a retired Col.

 

One was this pair of chevrons with a type of stitching I've never seen before. Any ideas on the vintage of these?

 

 

 

[KurtA]

These are private purchase US-made chevrons as made prior to WW2. They could be as old as the late 1920's. This style of chevron embroidery is often found with some sort of unauthorized branch insignia below it (e.g. band lyre, medical caduceus, signal corps flags, etc)

Kurt

[Bob Hudson]

These are private purchase US-made chevrons as made prior to WW2. They could be as old as the late 1920's. This style of chevron embroidery is often found with some sort of unauthorized branch insignia below it (e.g. band lyre, medical caduceus, signal corps flags, etc)

Kurt

 

 

Thanks. Theose just so looked so unusual that I had to pick them up (I paid $20 for them, the Air Corps stripes below and a bunch of patches: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...showtopic=16789 )

 

At the same sale I bought a single chevron with Air Corps insignia on it but it seems like I read somewhere that this was authorized until 1942 - is that correct?

 

[Wailuna]

...chevron with Air Corps insignia ... this was authorized until 1942 - is that correct?

According to Emerson (in Chevrons pp. 186 -188) Army chevrons showing branch or specialty insignia and the PFC specialist chevrons were unauthorized but widely worn from 1920 through WWII. Since they were all unauthorized, there was no cut-off date for their use. However, in 1942, the Army did away with specialist ratings for Privates and Privates First Class and introduced the Technician grades and official chevrons with the "T" symbol (Chevrons pp. 190). Chevrons has tables showing these various combinations in time lines (pp. 192-193).