U.S. Army Brassards & Armbands 1898 to 1918 Part 2

[A Gustaf B]

This is a brassard that is on the uniform of an ambulance driver, he served after the Armistice until the end of the war.  His driver's license states he is allowed to travel anywhere in the area of the Third Army and I assume that the brassard would be a similar pass.  There never is any way to be 100% sure that a grouping has not been tampered with and until I can ID the meaning of this arm band, it is suspect.

[kfields]

Here is a brassard I picked up today.  The seller had no ID on it. The diamond shape is 6 inches across:

 

[Basic Rifleman]

Has anyone seen this before?

 

[Edelweisse]

Saw these at the Portland military show 

[Sauk13]

On 7/29/2020 at 9:31 AM, A Gustaf B said:

This is a brassard that is on the uniform of an ambulance driver, he served after the Armistice until the end of the war.  His driver's license states he is allowed to travel anywhere in the area of the Third Army and I assume that the brassard would be a similar pass.  There never is any way to be 100% sure that a grouping has not been tampered with and until I can ID the meaning of this arm band, it is suspect.

 

Excellent brassard. 

 

Unfortunately, I cannot help with the ID, but I can at least show you a few photos of them in action. 

The photos below were taken in 1919 at Place de la Concorde in Paris, France. They were identified as "orderlies", but that is about all the information the caption offers.

 

[lamarhooten]

On 10/31/2024 at 6:06 PM, Edelweisse said:

Saw these at the Portland military show 

I managed to pick up afew of these items.

 

[lamarhooten]

Here is an example of the early, first issue MP arm band I found locally and for an inexpensive price too!

[JDR]

On 6/1/2014 at 8:33 AM, world war I nerd said:

Railway Transport Officer Brassard

 

The RTO Brassard was described as follows in General Orders issued sometime in 1918:

 

3. A railway transport officer (R.T.O.) will be stationed at every port; every important station on railway lines used by American E.F. and at such points as may be deemed necessary, R.T.O.’s will, whenever possible, be located at passenger stations. They will wear on the left arm, above the elbow, a brassard about 2 inches wide, of red and white bands, with black letters, two inches high reading, “R.T.O.”

AEF General order, number and date unknown

 

Photo No. 93: Many of the early arrivals to the AEF were the railway engineer regiments who laid the track, assembled the locomotives, maintained the rolling stock, and of course operated the trains. Clockwise from left are the SSI fir the: 34^th Railway Engineers, 14^th Railway Engineers (shop and supply), 32^nd Railway Engineers (standard gauge railway construction), and the 16^th Railway Transportation Corps.

Greetings,

 

It seems like I might have come across a photo of the above described armband in use within a period photograph. This shot came as part of a group (both of these men are unidentified) but the location -when compared to other similar pictures within the same group- appears to depict the train station at Agreifeuille-d' Aunis; located directly east of the French port of La Rochelle.

 

If my observation is correct, these men would have fallen under Base Section No. 7 as part of the AEF rail network's, "Vendee" Rail Division between La Rochelle and Saumur:

 

 

Right soldier's engineer insignia visible along with two-colored "RTO" armband

 

Best Regards,

-J.D.