U.S. Army Brassards & Armbands 1882 to 1918, Part 1

[world war I nerd]

Photo No. 48: part of the text in the post for photo number 15, read as follows:

 

The brassard is issued and stamped with a number by competent authority, and in case of persons who do not have military uniforms it is accompanied by a certificate of identity.

 

At the time of writing, despite the above, I was pretty sure that in the U.S. Army the Geneva/Red Cross Brassards issued were all unnumbered and that the numbered brassards were issued specifically to non-military personnel. Because I didn’t know for sure, I just ignored that information.

 

While researching part 2 of the brassard post, I ran across the following, which, I think, explained who the numbered Red Cross Brassards were issued to:

 

363. Badge, of Neutrality. – The emblem of neutrality is a red cross on a white ground. All persons belonging to the sanitary service, including the red cross association personnel and chaplains attached to the army, wear on the left arm a brassard bearing this emblem stamped by competent authority. Those not uniformed carry a certificate of identity in addition to the brassard.

 

Army Field Service Regulations, 1914, corrected to December 20, 1916, page 143

When the above text is read, it sounds as if each brassard was “stamped” with a control number. That’s not the case. The word “stamped” actually refers to the “emblem” or red cross that is “stamped” or sewn onto the brassard by “competent authority”. I interpret this to mean that the brassards must be manufactured or obtained through official channels. The final line identified that only “those not uniformed” were issued a “certificate of identity”, which would correspond to the control number stamped on the otherwise unnumbered Red Cross Brassard. Does that make sense?

 

Even though this ID card is both modern and foreign, it was the only example I could find to give us some idea of what a certificate of identity looked like.

[RelicHunter99]

Nice collection of information. I recognize a few of those brassards.