Sjef Posted May 4, 2014 Share #1 Posted May 4, 2014 Look at this documentary: At 12:50 minutes two Americans appear (supposedly in London) wearing US Army officers uniforms without any rank insignia. One of them has a badge with a laurelled 'US' on his cap, the other one has an anchor badge and an anchor SSI on his left sleeve. The SSI comes close to that of a naval war correspondent, but is not quite the same. Anyone got any idea what these guys are? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sjef Posted May 4, 2014 Author Share #2 Posted May 4, 2014 To make it a little easier, here is a screen shot: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patches Posted May 4, 2014 Share #3 Posted May 4, 2014 War Correspondents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Brick Posted May 4, 2014 Share #4 Posted May 4, 2014 The man on the left with the US patch on his cap is a War Correspondent aka WarCo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Brick Posted May 4, 2014 Share #5 Posted May 4, 2014 Your guess about the man on the right being a naval warco is correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabrejet Posted May 4, 2014 Share #6 Posted May 4, 2014 We Brits find that "Cawn't miss it!" thing hilarious! It's a somewhat "twisted" approximation of what people actually said/ say! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sjef Posted May 4, 2014 Author Share #7 Posted May 4, 2014 Thanks guys!! I learn all the time on this forum. But why would a naval war correspondent wear an Army instead of a navy uniform? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patches Posted May 4, 2014 Share #8 Posted May 4, 2014 Thanks guys!! I learn all the time on this forum. But why would a naval war correspondent wear an Army instead of a navy uniform? It is curious, but check out this photo of a WWII Photographer with the War Correpondent Anchor patch and that Anchor cap badge, we see he's both wearing an Army Officers Shirt (with Shoulder Loops, Navy Officers didn't have this feature), and an Army Overseas Cap with an unknown Dark Colored branch Piping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sjef Posted May 5, 2014 Author Share #9 Posted May 5, 2014 It is curious, but check out this photo of a WWII Photographer with the War Correpondent Anchor patch and that Anchor cap badge, we see he's both wearing an Army Officers Shirt (with Shoulder Loops, Navy Officers didn't have this feature), and an Army Overseas Cap with an unknown Dark Colored branch Piping. Strange...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72psb Posted May 5, 2014 Share #10 Posted May 5, 2014 I'll throw out a theory. Civilian correspondents were vetted by the military,(think embedded) They were treated as officer class,thus the officer uniforms. All officers were required to purchase their own uniforms. I speculate they went into a tailor shop and ask for an officers uniform and this is what they walked out with. Some being more military minded than others. Just a theory Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patches Posted May 5, 2014 Share #11 Posted May 5, 2014 I'll throw out a theory. Civilian correspondents were vetted by the military,(think embedded) They were treated as officer class,thus the officer uniforms. All officers were required to purchase their own uniforms. I speculate they went into a tailor shop and ask for an officers uniform and this is what they walked out with. Some being more military minded than others. Just a theory That might explain the Khaki shirt, an Army Officers type, but what about the Army Overseas Cap EM Type, plus opening photo of the guy with the anchor patch and cap badge who's clearly wearing an Army Officers Class A uniform. Could another possibility be that all Civilian War Correspondents fell under Army control thus were uniformed by the Army, and were then seconded to the Navy, with the only distinction being the wear of these Naval associated badges? As a side bar, that dark branch piping we see on the guy in Khakis, could that piping be that Purple piping discused before? http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/185249-garrison-cap-purple-piping/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sjef Posted May 5, 2014 Author Share #12 Posted May 5, 2014 I'll throw out a theory. Civilian correspondents were vetted by the military,(think embedded) They were treated as officer class,thus the officer uniforms. All officers were required to purchase their own uniforms. I speculate they went into a tailor shop and ask for an officers uniform and this is what they walked out with. Some being more military minded than others. Just a theory One would think that even the correspondents would have some pride in wearing their own branches uniform, though? And I guess if possible they would prevent themselves from sticking out too much. So I am inclined to think that it was according to regulations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patches Posted May 5, 2014 Share #13 Posted May 5, 2014 Here's another view of the anchor patch, this time on Ernie Pyle when he was onboard the USS Cabot, a CVL. note again the Army Officers shirt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johan Willaert Posted May 6, 2014 Share #14 Posted May 6, 2014 The entire clip in the opening post is filled with correspondents, amongst which some well known... At 24:33 you can see Brandt who wore a dark assault jacket ashore on Omaha Beach... Ernie Pyle appears at around 24:40 Much of this footage was shot by George Stevens' SPECOU(nit) and is available on DVD (D-Day to Berlin & France is Free) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willysmb44 Posted May 19, 2014 Share #15 Posted May 19, 2014 I tried sending a detailed explaination for all this yesterday, but while trying to attach a photo, the screen locked up and I lost it all. Not gonna type all that again. The short version is that correspondents had to go buy their own uniforms, so they most often bought Army ones. So Navy patches on Army uniforms was pretty common among the correspondents. So were pure officer uniforms. They quite often wore overseas hats with officer piping. The hat insignia to the guy on the left in the color photo at the top is a Brit made correspondent patch, sewn to the service hat. Alaso pretty common as there was no official hat insignia for that hat (the Brits has one of their own, as did the Navy, though oddly the Navy one hardly ever turns up in period photos). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sjef Posted May 23, 2014 Author Share #16 Posted May 23, 2014 I tried sending a detailed explaination for all this yesterday, but while trying to attach a photo, the screen locked up and I lost it all. Not gonna type all that again. The short version is that correspondents had to go buy their own uniforms, so they most often bought Army ones. So Navy patches on Army uniforms was pretty common among the correspondents. So were pure officer uniforms. They quite often wore overseas hats with officer piping. The hat insignia to the guy on the left in the color photo at the top is a Brit made correspondent patch, sewn to the service hat. Alaso pretty common as there was no official hat insignia for that hat (the Brits has one of their own, as did the Navy, though oddly the Navy one hardly ever turns up in period photos). Thanks for the info. I should have got you involved right from the start, of course. So that supports 72psb's theory. I am not saying you are wrong, but it I do find it rather strange. What was the status of these war correspondents? Where they considered to be part of the military like a chaplain, or where they actually civilians and therefore free to wear whatever they fancied? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willysmb44 Posted May 23, 2014 Share #17 Posted May 23, 2014 They were neither. They had to wear military uniforms with specific insignia, and in most cases they had to buy it all themselves... Civilain correspondent could sort of travel where they wanted, but they were assigned to a specific theater of operations, and had to get permission to leave that theater. They were also subject to UCMJ, but I don't think any punishment ever occured to any of them for pretty obvious reasons. They also had no transportation assigned to them. No Jeep filled with field desks and the like, they were at the mercy of GIs to give them rides. That said, a few were unofficically given transport, like Ernie Pyle had his own Kubel for a while... The carried an unofficial rank of Captain, for Geneva Covention purposes, in case they were ever captured (no manual labor that way, in theory). I wrote an article for Army Motors a few years back with a lot of detail on the subject, if anyone wants a PDF copy of it, PM me with your email address and I'd be happy to send you a copy of the file with that article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now