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Insignia & Patches. 1st Army, 21st Engineer Rgmt (RxR Transportation)


hawk3370
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Years ago I acquired a WW1 tunic that has always been somewhat of a mystery to me. It has a 1st Army Engineer patch with hand stitched number 21 on the castle, a US 21 collar disc which would lead me to believe he was from the 21st Light Railroad Engineer unit, however on the right sleeve is a Sgt stripe with the Railroad Transportation rank insignia and on the right side of the collar is the winged wheel railroad transportation disc. A couple thoughts his mos was in railroad transportation and he worked in that capacity with the 21st Railroad Engineers or later he was assigned to the 21st but continued to wear his railroad transportation rank and disc.

Any comments from the WW1 experts on the forum?

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That is a great blouse, talk about hitting for the cycle, it has it all. A great unit patch, rank and the collar disks. My money is on he was a 21st Engr guy and he choose the trans disk over a castle.

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Hawk-

 

Good question. I have had the same one, and am now looking into it. The RR engineers were a part of what was called The Line of Communication. That group then became the SOS (Services of Supply). Their job was to handle the ports and get the supplies to the front. Late in the war, the Transportation Corps was formed, and the RR engineers became a part of that. After the war, the TC was ended, then revitalized in WWII. Lots of data to fill in yet, but this is what I have learned to date. And bear in mind we are talking about the Engineer Corps, not the divisional engineers.

 

Great uniform, as it helps to illustrate that move, and the first TC collar disc I have seen in use. Thanks for sharing.

 

mccooper

 

ps - please bear in mind my reply is a very broad brushstroke as I am still do research into this matter.

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lightningdivision

That is one fantastic 1st army patch.Great to see how many variations there are from it!!

 

Stijn

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Too Much WW1 Militaria

According what I've read, this was a medium gauge railway unit. I think Scipo's collar disc book references the disc. Will have to dig it out and check.

 

John

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Too Much WW1 Militaria

All the book says is transportation corps French made. I recall being told by a disc collector years ago, that they indicated medium gauge railway. Whether this is correct or not, I'm not sure.

 

John

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  • 2 months later...

This is actually a topic I am researching right now. Officially the standard gauge railroad regiments were transfered from the Corps of Engineers to the sort lived Transportation Corps but the Light (narrow gauge) Regiments like the 21st were supposldy kept with the Corp of Engineers. This uniform looks extremely legit but defies that rule. It would appear that the 21st may (and other light regiments) may also have been transferred over at some point or just adopted the more specifically railroad related insgina themselve! Thanks so much for sharing as this changes alot of what I thought I knew about the uniforms and insignia of the 21st!

 

Chris Fischer

F-Troop

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