AEF Service Coat. 12th Div. 36 Inf. Rgmt

[dave grunt]

Picked up this uniform yrs. ago. I had never actually seen a 12th Div. patch but it looked like the pics I had seen and the construction I had read about (applied pieces). The disks are correct "I Co. 36 Inf. Regt.". What bothered me was the overseas stripes. If it is good, how scarce is it? It isn't for sale just be clear ahead of time. Thank you for any info. Dave

 

the patch

[dave grunt]

Inside of shoulder that patch is sown on. other pic is maker tag (14MAR18 dated).

[dave grunt]

the whole jacket

[dave grunt]

the overseas stripes

[dave grunt]

the collar disks

[dave grunt]

last pic initials HGL inside jacket

[Too Much WW1 Militaria]

Looks good to me! You will also see a more detailed 12th SSI out there but this one is a good variant. You might be able to ID this one, the 12th published a roster of names. Mine is packed up...... Somewhere! LOL

 

John

[dave grunt]

John- Thank you. Can you tell me if this is a hard to find patch? Dave

[Too Much WW1 Militaria]

Dave,

 

All the stateside SSI's can be hard to find, the 12th seems to be one of the easier ones to find.

 

John

[atb]

The silver colored war service chevron (and the one on your coat looks silver to me) is for six months service not in the zone of operations, i.e. anywhere but France or another operational area. Service chevrons for service in the zone of operations were gold colored. That means he spent at least six months in the US. I don't know what the straight bar could represent on a WW1 coat.

[Too Much WW1 Militaria]

The straight bar was unofficial but was sometimes added to denote less than a six month period of service.

 

John

[Airman86]

Great looking piece!!

[BEAST]

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/202900-world-war-i-war-service-chevrons/page-6

 

The British used a gold bar to indicate wounds. It is unlikely, but still possible he served with a foreign unit before America's entry. Take a look at the thread above for more details.

 

That's a really nice looking coat by the way.

[Too Much WW1 Militaria]

All,

 

Brit wound chevrons were worn vertical not horizontal. I was told by several WW1 vets that this was used to unofficially indicate a period of less than six months service, so that's what I'm basing this on. It pays to be old! LOL I know there is nothing in the regs for it, at least nothing that I've ever found. That is the great thing about uniforms from both World Wars, the little Doughboy/GI added extras! I have a complete named group to a PVT Abraham Rappaport, has his tunic, medals (PH/VM) all his discharges from both the pre-war NG and WW1 Army. The tunic has a First Class PVT oval on the right sleeve, but nowhere an any of the records does it list him as anything but a PVT! He got VD during the Mexican Border operation, and got in trouble (company punishment) for taking a dump in a wheelbarrow and stealing a pair of shoes while in France! On his discharge, his character is listed as excellent! LOL Go figure! As near as I can tell, he gave himself a "field promotion" somewhere along the line! NARA had about 60 pages on this guy too, so I got really lucky!

 

I'll have to dig it out of the tub sometime and take pictures.

 

John

[Too Much WW1 Militaria]

Found my 12th Division roster. There is no CPL in any of the Company I's matching the initials HGI. Was worth a shot though.

 

John

[Too Much WW1 Militaria]

Well, there are no PVT's matching the initials HGL either.

 

John

[dave grunt]

Once again thank you all very much for your time and effort to help me on this tunic-Dave