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Question about WAVES Rating Badge Construction


David Minton
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I have about two dozen WAVES rates, as well as a few hundred men's rates. I picked up three WAVES rates the other day, including the Radioman (woman?) and Radarman (radar woman?) below. For scale, I have also included a full size Radarman.

 

All of the WAVES rates I have owned are similar in construction to the one on the left, particularly having embroidered chevrons, with a silk or gaberdine base material. The WAVES Radarman (center) is a scaled down version of the one on the right, including applied chevrons, felt base material, and embroidered date (looks to me to be 1943) common on many WWII era rates, though not this particular one full size example.

 

My question is how common was this construction? Since WAVES rates don't seem to be widely collected, I figure it doesn't have much value, but at $2, I couldn't pass it up.

 

post-132988-0-43885000-1423239977.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

David,

First applied chevron W.A.V.E.S. rating badge I've run across and a dated one at that.

All I've collected/seen have been embroidered chevrons.

-dan

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The only other applied chevron female rating badge I have seen can be seen in a post called Navy rating badges signed and dated.

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Thank you for posting topdcnut. Its interesting to see your piece, while having applied chevrons, is very different. That one is gaberdine vs. mine which is wool. The sticking pattern on the chevrons looks also to be different.

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  • 2 years later...

The WAVES radar rating badge might just be a Coast Guard SPAR rating badge from WW2. The CG had a rating of Radarman (LORAN) that used the standard RdMn specialty mark. The rating was a kind of low key specialty. The SPARs in that rating operated the stateside Loran navigation system. There is a photo somewhere on the CG Historans web sit showing the crew from the Chatham, Mass Loran Station..

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