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World War I War Service Chevrons


world war I nerd
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Fantasic post-best one yet on this entire forum! Thanks for all your effort to do this, it's a ton of work that is greatly appreciated.

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A tip of the hat to you, world war one nerd.....What a tremendous job compiling all of that information. Thanks!!!

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Thank you. What a terrific collection of information. Well done! I am researching my Father (James T. Kenny's) history in Company "K" 320th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Battalion, 160 Brigade, 80th Division, 1st Army, AEF. I was trying to determine how many and what color overseas stripes he was entitled to and you have answered that to the nth degree. Thanks again.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...
world war I nerd

lastpost,

 

That's a great photo of mismatched war service chevrons!

 

It's hard to know for sure but it almost looks as if the Doughboy is wearing two gold service chevrons over one silver service chevron?

 

Thanks for posting.

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world war I nerd

Apparently there was some kind of a gold chevron denoting that the wearer had been a prisoner of war. The following paragraph, is where the POW chevron was mentioned ... Has anybody ever heard of or seen a POW Chevron?

 

Such decorations such as gold and silver stars on the sleeves, unauthorized campaign ribbons, gold chevrons presumed to denote that the wearer has been a prisoner of war, or denoting any service other than prescribed for such chevrons are not authorized and will not be permitted. (See Circular No. 85, War Department, Washington, February 19, 1919)

Where Do We Go from Here: This is the Real Dope, 1919, William Brown Meloney, page 31, 32

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Here is an interesting combination. Raymond L. Turner, 812th Pioneer Infantry.

 

 

 

I have a copy of Turner's file from the War Hsitory Dept. of the California Historical Survey Commission dated Nov. 11, 1921 which was filled out by Turner himself. Unfortunately he decided not to fill out much of the service history section of the form other than mentioning he was recieved his discharge button. :(

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world war I nerd

lastpost,

 

Do you know what unit he served in?

 

Also did it mention whether or not if his discharge button was bronze or silver?

 

Thanks

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lastpost,

 

Do you know what unit he served in?

 

Also did it mention whether or not if his discharge button was bronze or silver?

 

Thanks

 

812th Pioneer Infantry. He simply stated "Discharge button" in his paperwork/

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Hey World War One Nerd,

What a fantastic article! I'm getting inspired all over again about collecting and preserving WWI groups and hopefully putting together similar such research pieces. Have you seen the mourning bands on uniforms, like the one General Edwards from the 26th Division has been shown wearing in one of the Yankee Division unit history flypages? Have you ever considered maybe working jointly on projects, like maybe a definitive description of all the First Army component unit / patch variations? What about working on a museum of WW I identified groups? Please take a look at the website, MotAME.org ( Museum of the American Military Experience ) . This article really is one of the best I have ever seen which combines the collector and historian priorities in the same research. Thank You!

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world war I nerd

While going through some photographs that forum member Jagjetta kindly sent me for another project, I came across an unusual set of overseas chevrons with what may be a "First Over Star".

 

What's interesting is that it appears to be a six rather than five pointed star. A five pointed star is the style that's usually associated with the first 100,000 over. It's possible that a six pointed star could represent something else entirely, like the 6th Division for example?

 

Has anybody ever seen a star like this before?

post-5143-0-77007300-1407988447.jpg

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world war I nerd

Another photograph that turned up in the batch of photos from Jagjetta was this one of men from the 16th Engineer Regiment with their overseas chevrons sewn on upside down!

 

This and the above photograph, courtesy of the John Adam-Graf collection

post-5143-0-29376300-1407988703.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

December 1918: Silver War Service Chevron Adopted

During the course of America’s involvement in the Great War, millions of men and a number of women served exclusively stateside at training camps, hospitals, Navy yards and other military installations. Many of them were professional military men who had hoped to serve overseas but were denied from doing so because they were needed for home service. To honor their service, in December of 1918, War Department General Orders No. 122 authorized a silver War Service Chevron, identical is size and pattern to both the gold and light blue chevrons. One silver chevron was retroactively awarded for each six months of home or stateside service.

Photo No. 08: Silver tape and silver wire are the only type of home service war chevrons that I have personally encountered. Presumably there would have been a heavier silver bullion chevron similar in appearance to the gold bullion service chevrons shown in photo number two and four. The soldier at right, wearing the white on dark blue “Recruiting Service” Brassard is typical of the hundreds of thousands of military men who served state side throughout the war at Army schools, Quartermaster Corps depots, military hospitals or at one of the twelve Ports of Embarkation scattered along the eastern seaboard (The mixed color chevrons and the star insignia will be covered further on in this topic).

 

 

WWI Nerd-

 

Outstanding article! Many thanks for your dedication and efforts. A question, please, regarding the silver chevron. I have an American Embarkation Center uniform with what appears to be two silver chevrons. The AEC was stationed overseas, which raises my question. Would welcome any comments on your part, or from other members. Named, nut no provenance or research to date. Thank you.

 

mccooper

 

 

post-151387-0-23966800-1409237375.jpg

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Agreed! Those are tarnished gold chevrons. The silver ones will have a grey or silver edge to them when they tarnish and invariably, they end up looking black.

 

Allan

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world war I nerd

mccooper,

 

I agree with atb and Allen H.

 

The gold or yellow thread used to sew the chevrons onto the olive drab backing cloth indicate that they were once gold. If they were silver the color of the thread would have been light gray or white.

 

By the way, does your American Embarkation Center service coat have a shoulder insignia? If so, would you mind posting a photograph here? I've always been interested in the various "POE" or Ports of Embarkation insignia and I don't think I've seen one for the "AEC".

 

Thanks

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mccooper,

 

I agree with atb and Allen H.

 

The gold or yellow thread used to sew the chevrons onto the olive drab backing cloth indicate that they were once gold. If they were silver the color of the thread would have been light gray or white.

 

By the way, does your American Embarkation Center service coat have a shoulder insignia? If so, would you mind posting a photograph here? I've always been interested in the various "POE" or Ports of Embarkation insignia and I don't think I've seen one for the "AEC".

 

Thanks

 

My thanks to all three of you gentlemen for your answers. The more I looked, the surer I was that that was the case, but you can always convince yourself, I really appreciate your experienced opinions. Attached is a photo of the patch, which I really liked. Now - of course - I have to find a good PE NY or NJ uniform to put at the ends of my display to get them "coming and going." Thank you all again.

 

mccooper

 

post-151387-0-05920600-1409321372.jpg

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mccooper,

 

Thank you for posting the AEC insignia. I've never seen one of those before.

 

You are welcome. I appreciated your input on the overseas stripes.

 

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I checked with World War 1 nerd and he said post away.

Here are some photos from WWI nurse Edna Proctor's photo album with 2 shots of nurses with overseas chevrons. The chevron itself is somewhat smaller than the male uniform version and is on a dark blue background material.

Kim

 

 

post-60-0-90979900-1409486267.jpg

post-60-0-88922800-1409486284.jpg

post-60-0-85599000-1409486298.jpg

post-60-0-36091300-1409486320.jpg

post-60-0-16661600-1409486350.jpg

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I find her dogtags especially interesting. All the letters are capital letters but the first letter of the first and last name are an extra large size font. I can't say I've ever seen that before nor have I seen a dog tag punch kit with that option.

Kim

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