Staff Sgt Stripes with Red Cross

[QED4]

Does any one know what these stripes are, they look to be standard WWII OD on khaki stripes with the addition of a red cross in the center? Unauthorized Army Medic, paramilitary organization, or just plain fantasy?

[QED4]

Not sure what happened there, i'll try again with the pictures.

[warroom1]

Still need help with this one for qed, does not burn, no glow with light, seems real.

[Bob Hudson]

Is that from the pre-WWII period when they had unofficial a stripes with the NCO's field on them, such as Air Corps, etc? Those disappeared in, I think, 1942 when they came out with the Tech Sgt. rank.

[warroom1]

these are from late 1930s thru 1942 and look like others in my collection. thanks would still a positive I.D.

[warroom1]

Do not let thie die,realy need help ,Sgt. Booker were art you?

[USMCRECON]

Is that from the pre-WWII period when they had unofficial a stripes with the NCO's field on them, such as Air Corps, etc? Those disappeared in, I think, 1942 when they came out with the Tech Sgt. rank.

 

I have a pair of S/SGT Chevrons in OD on blue with the USAAC winged prop device in the center. I assume they would be from the same era.

[Bob Hudson]

Well I did some more prowling around and the typical Medical Corps NCO chevrons would have looked like this, with no red cross:

 

 

But, something similar to what you show is described on an Army website at http://ameddregiment.amedd.army.mil/enlisted_history.asp :

 

On 1 March 1887, the Hospital Corps was finally established. "New Chevrons" denoting the ranks of the hospital stewards were introduced similar to the chevrons worn by all NCO's in the Army. Hospital stewards wore full sized chevrons that had three stripes below and one on top with a Red Cross in the center. Acting hospital stewards wore the same chevrons except for the stripe on top. Privates of the Hospital Corps wore the "white arm band with a Red Cross" and this date is considered the "Anniversary of the Hospital Corps". GENERAL ORDER 29

 

Since the "specialty chevrons" of the 1920-42 period were unofficial, I wonder if some old Hospital Stewards decided to have theirs made with the red cross instead of the caduceus.

[warroom1]

Thanks for the help, were getting there, sincerely warroom1

[DocRick]

Check Osprey's WWI Marine book on page 14. A Navy Pharmacist Mate, E-8 is wearing an army 1st sgt stripe with the red cross in 1918. The Marines and Navy Corpsman often wore army uniforms and rank insignia in WWI.

[Lee Ragan]

Is that from the pre-WWII period when they had unofficial a stripes with the NCO's field on them, such as Air Corps, etc? Those disappeared in, I think, 1942 when they came out with the Tech Sgt. rank.

Tech Sergeant rank came out in 1920. You are thinging of the Technician, 3rd Grade, 4th Grade and 5th Grade chevrons.

[DocRick]

I've seen various explanations for these patches. 1930's CCC, unauthorized army stripes, WWI army stripes, pure fantasy stripes. But I've yet to see anything proof positive. All the CCC sites I've found show stripes of various designs, all homemade looking. A pic of a WWI corpsman shows wearing army stripes with a red cross. Quality of the patch? Who knows, it's a 90 year old photo. So I believe these stripes are going to be an enigma forever, as no one (and everyone) seems to know their origin. I'm waiting on my ebay win to get here, for closer examination.

[Wedgehead30]

I ran across this last weekend. Don't have a clue as to what it is either.

 

[warroom1]

pleast identfaction of these someone must have clue thanks warroom2

[patches]

On 9/24/2021 at 6:57 AM, warroom1 said:

pleast identfaction of these someone must have clue thanks warroom2

As per your earlier post

 

 

 

[Jon Kennedy]

I'm no expert on any of this, but I'm here because I was looking for informaion on this rank insignia after seeing it in the film The Marines Fly High
(1940) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032761/  It was worn by the character Sgt. Monk O'Hara. It looked identical to the one posted by Wedgehead30 above. The film is in B&W, so of coures I don't know if the colors are correct. And I know Hollywood isn't known for getting military uniforms right all the time. But, in this case it may offer a clue to look in the direction of the USMC pre-WW2. I hope this helps a little.

[subsystem4]

19 hours ago, Jon Kennedy said:

I'm no expert on any of this, but I'm here because I was looking for informaion on this rank insignia after seeing it in the film The Marines Fly High
(1940) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032761/  It was worn by the character Sgt. Monk O'Hara. It looked identical to the one posted by Wedgehead30 above. The film is in B&W, so of coures I don't know if the colors are correct. And I know Hollywood isn't known for getting military uniforms right all the time. But, in this case it may offer a clue to look in the direction of the USMC pre-WW2. I hope this helps a little.

They might be an error or a manufacturer trying to anticipate a need. There are many error navy rates from the WW2 era for example.

It wouldn't make sense for the USMC to use these chevrons with a red cross on them because the marines didn't have their own medical personnel. The navy provided the doctors, dentists, and pharmacist mates(hospital corpsmen) to marine units in the field and they wore their navy insignia(most often in marine colors) on marine uniforms.