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Overseas A.R.C. Insignia


world war I nerd
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world war I nerd

This is something, I've never been able to figure out ...

 

This sequence of photos shows three WW I era red Cross service coats. The left hand coat has two horizontal black stripes or bars on the lower left and right hand sleeves.

 

The center coat, depicts Earnest Hemingway in France, when he was a Red Cross ambulance driver circa 1917. His service coat has either two light colored stripes or bars or a single black stripe or bar on a light colored backing on both sleeves as well as a light colored chevron (possibly a wound and overseas service chevron), also on both sleeves.

 

The right hand coat has two horizontal black stripes or bars on both sleeves and one gold, presumably an overseas chevron for six months service, on the left sleeve only.

 

What do the black bars represent?

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world war I nerd

This sequence of photos shows a Friends of the Quaker's service coat (an offshoot or organization sponsored by the Red Cross - note the Red Cross badge on the collar and the A.R.C. arc on the shoulder strap). It has a single vertical bar only on the left sleeve.

 

Is this an insignia of rank or is it the Quaker equivalent of an war service chevron?

 

In the center is a Red Cross section commander or leader showing what passed for women's Red Cross rank insignia in July of 1917. According to a Red Cross Uniforms for Women's Workers periodical of the same date:

 

The insignia of officers or directors of all units, companies or groups consists of a narrow armband 18" X 1-1/2" of the same color as the service color, i.e. dark blue for Supplies and Refreshments, yellow for Clerical, green for Motor; placed one inch above the broad armband worn on the left arm. Upon this narrow band shall be worn two bars in silver for Captain or Director, one bar in silver for Lieutenant or Assistant Director.

 

The inset is a close up of the (silver?) vertical bar on the Quaker coat.

 

The right hand image shows a Red Cross worker whose coat bears three horizontal black stripes or bars on both sleeves and a single (silver?) vertical bar only on the left sleeve.

 

Based on the above extract, presumably the vertical bar signifies that this man was a lieutenant or assistant director.

 

Again what do the black bars represent? 18 months overseas service?

 

 

post-5143-0-13273700-1435704890.jpg

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world war I nerd

Left & center left: Close ups showing the horizontal bars on the left and right sleeves of the coat worn by the Red Cross man shown in post number two, and the single (silver?) bar on his left sleeve.

 

Center: Earnest Hemingway's single black bar - on a light background?

 

Right: The sleeve of the Red Cross service coat with two horizontal black bars and a war service chevron for six to eleven months of service overseas shown in post number one.

post-5143-0-21665400-1435705444.jpg

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world war I nerd

Finally a YMCA man whose service coat features three YMCA inverted triangles of an unknown color on the lower left sleeve. The inset is a similar insignia embroidered in gold bullion on a YMCA service cap.

 

Is this a YMCA rank insignia or the YMCA's version of three overseas stripes?

 

Thanks for looking ... and hopefully replying!

post-5143-0-48449900-1435705707.jpg

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world war I nerd

PS, The overseas cap worn by the Red Cross man in post number two is piped.

 

Does anybody know what color was used for the piping on a Red Cross cap?

 

Thanks

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Too Much WW1 Militaria

The horizontal stripes denote rank. The Red Cross used the French rank system. 2 stripes roughly equaled a 1st LT, 3 indicated a CPT. I have a named 9th Corps one here to a CPT E. B. Merriman. It has 3 horizontal blue bars, really dark blue, almost black. I've seen the bars in either blue or black. The piping I have no clue, figure it was branch piping on officers o/s caps, but Red Cross, well that one I don't know.

 

John

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world war I nerd

Thanks John,

 

My guess was that the bars were a rank system as well.

 

Any idea about the triangles on the YMCA man's sleeve?

 

You'd think that the piping on a Red Cross overseas cap would be red, but that was the branch color of the artillery. It's also possible that the Red Cross man's cap is not piped ant the light color is just the result of light reflecting off the upper edge of the cap's 'curtain'.

 

I think that GHQ kept a pretty tight lid on the use of piping on officer's overseas caps to prevent confusion. In fact GHQ even assigned a piping color for newspaper correspondents' overseas caps. It was scarlet over green.

 

Here's a photo of Floyd Gibbons, the correspondent for the Chicago tribune upon returning to the USA after being wounded at Belleau Wood.

 

You can just make out the two colors of piping on his overseas cap.

post-5143-0-99298000-1435710185.jpg

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Too Much WW1 Militaria

Well, I dug the tunic out, and the stripes are faded black! I always thought they were blue!

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The vertical stripes are for six month's service overseas; the triangles worn by the YMCA secretary indicate the same. There was no prescribed way of wearing the latter, these sketches are all from contemporary photos:

ymca_service_triangles.jpg

The horizontal dark blue stripes are rank insignia:

arc.jpg

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Too Much WW1 Militaria

Well, you figure that the fraternal organizations in France tried to look as much like American officers, at least within reason. I've seen that triangle claimed as both a Coast Artillery device (which I think is incorrect). What I actually think it actually is a YMCA triangle without the lettering. My YMCA tunic has the lettering on the patches on both sleeves. I think it is a YMCA variant. I'm going to put my Red Cross tunic on a dummy (not me lol, another dummy) and post pics of it.

 

John

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Too Much WW1 Militaria

Mine doesn't have the cross above it, just the stripes. Going to take pics now.

 

John

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world war I nerd

Excellent information and graphics Rolfi. Thank you so much, you've just cleared up something I've been wondering about for a long time.

 

It's interesting that the YMCA was service triangles are both right side up and inverted. Could be any significance attached to the direction the triangle is pointing?

 

Also any thought on the overseas cap piping?

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world war I nerd

Nice service coat John.

 

I can see why you thought the rank stripes were blue.

 

Like you, I've never seen a Red Cross emblem above the sleeve rank insignia as shown in the image posted by Rolfi.

 

Did that coat come with any headgear?

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world war I nerd

By the way, the rank stripes look to me as if they were originally blue - not faded black

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Too Much WW1 Militaria

I keep flipping between the two. Blue would make sense since the French ones could either be blue or gold. Let me get a Red Cross cover out and take pictures. The only fraternal organization I don't have anything from is the Jewish Welfare Board. That's on my short list..... Then again so is the ability to produce gold bricks out of my south end! lol

 

John

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Too Much WW1 Militaria

Last one. And I really DO have too much of this stuff! lol The caps are pretty rare, this is only the 2nd one I've seen outside of a museum. Then again, the tunics don't grow on trees!

 

John

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world war I nerd

I've never seen a male or female Jewish welfare League uniform ... ever, and I 've only come across one partial color photo of a female uniform in a private collection and a poor quality period photo of two JWL female workers. Good luck on your quest.

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Too Much WW1 Militaria

I have found 3 veggie JWB buttons in 57 years of doing this. Supposedly, the Jewish War Veterans headquarters in NYC has one.

 

John

 

While digging, I just found a United States Shipping Board officers tunic and Bell crown. Only one I've ever seen.

 

John

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The Red Cross hat posted looks like it is put together. The visor itself is a ww1 visor but the badge dates to the Second World War. I am not sure how they ended up together

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