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Qualification badge on Officers Coat


Keith
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I have an Infantry Officers Dress blue uniform that has a Marksman and an Expert (both with bars) Qualification Badges on it. Did a Vietnam era Army Officer wear qualification badges on his dress blue uniform? Thanks.

(The Marksman badge has AUTO. RIFLE and MACHINE GUN bars and the Expert badge has GRENADE and PISTOL bars.)

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I have an Infantry Officers Dress blue uniform that has a Marksman and an Expert (both with bars) Qualification Badges on it. Did a Vietnam era Army Officer wear qualification badges on his dress blue uniform? Thanks.

(The Marksman badge has AUTO. RIFLE and MACHINE GUN bars and the Expert badge has GRENADE and PISTOL bars.)

Yes they did, on AG44s too. I will scan some portraits tonight.

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Just scanned a load of portraits in Blues and AG44s from the Ft Leavenworth Command and General Staff College yearbooks that I have, I have quite a lot of them, will post them tomorrow, as it's late and I got to resize them all, these books are big and heavy so it was a bitch to scan. Will post the Blues here, the AGs in a new topic of my own.

 

They are a wealth of info really in the form of these portraits, at least two times I was able to help put a face to an officers uniform other members had.

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These a sample, are from the 1959 and 1968 yearbooks of the C&GS College, now to be clear, while we do see Marksmanship Badges could and were indeed worn on Blues back in olden tymes, it would be like this, for every one officer Army wide who did, there would be a five hundred who did not. There are others I seen in my other yearbooks from the other years, so you get the idea.

 

post-34986-0-14085800-1458529134.jpgpost-34986-0-15473200-1458529153.jpg

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Thanks Patches for the photos. Here is a photo of the one I have. Looks to be complete but, missing the shoulder boards. keith

post-2830-0-23320300-1458581569.jpg

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We do see the badges were worn by some on their Blues, photos tell us that. However Now in your case Keith, be aware, the Marksmanship badges that are on this coat may very well of been NOT on it, but rather were part of the overall grouping that someone down the line put on it. It very well might be the case, I direct you to the application of the two ribbons there, the Presidential Unit Citation (PUC) for one would not go there, but on the other side.

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Thanks, I noticed that too about the PUC being on the wrong side. There is a plastic name plate over the right pocket where the PUC would go...I wonder if that affected the location?

 

Another thing; the US pins are on the lapel as your photos show, but there is no branch pins on the lower part of the lapel and I see no holes where they would have been either. ??

 

I mentioned the shoulder boards were missing....I just found one of them in a lower pocket. Made by Wolf Brown.

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Thanks, I noticed that too about the PUC being on the wrong side. There is a plastic name plate over the right pocket where the PUC would go...I wonder if that affected the location?

 

Another thing; the US pins are on the lapel as your photos show, but there is no branch pins on the lower part of the lapel and I see no holes where they would have been either. ??

I mentioned the shoulder boards were missing....I just found one of them in a lower pocket. Made by Wolf Brown.

Well the Name plate if worn, (lots of times officers did'nt wear them on Blues) would go on the pocket flap, so that PUC was just placed there by someone for the heck of it, not knowing really where it went. On the branch pins, they probably were there, on wool items for the most part, it will be hard to see marks from pin holes.

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You know Keith we can possibly ID this officer. So if you don't mind, lets have that name.

 

The only name I find anywhere is the name tag..."WELLS". The one shoulder board I have is light blue with one silver bar, 2nd Lt. The clothing tag in the coat is from a company in Mass so it was a private purchase; maybe he was from that area. Found in Missouri. Nice coat and trousers. Coat has a quilted lining. Both badges and bars are 1/20th Silver Fill.Thanks.

 

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Jamecharles

Since 1936 the Qualification badges were used on blue or white dress uniforms for enlisted men and officers.

 

GS

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Well I found a few Wells, Inf from 1 Jan 68 that might be him.

 

They are

 

Captain Albert L. Wells, Inf, RA.

 

2nd Lieutenant Charles E. Wells, Inf USAR.

 

2nd Lieutenant Jeff Wells, Inf, USAR.

 

Captain John R. Wells Jr, Inf, USAR.

 

1st Lieutenant William J. Wells, Inf, USAR.

 

2nd Lieutenant Winston R. Wells, Inf, USAR.

 

 

Bear in mind, that those ones with USAR need not necessarily be actual Reservists, they more than likely were on active duty, here USAR means their source of commission, like ROTC.

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