2LT Fatigue Top and Helmet Liner

[bryang]

I've posted the helmet in the appropriate forum, however wanted to post more specifically about the uniform here.

 

 

While sorting through some uniform items I realized that the name on one of the uniform tops matches a helmet liner in a steel pot I picked up.

 

 

Is this HBT? and if so from what time period? The name and U.S. Army tapes are hand-sewn to the top (and that rather crudely). On the collar there are shadows consistent with where an officer's rank and branch would have previously been sewn.

 

 

 

Bryan

 

 

 

 

 

[bryang]

Collar and helmet liner:

 

 

 

 

[Sully]

The buttons look like those on USN HBT's.

[patches]

Your shirt is one of those 50s Army-Navy Store types, these used many times Khaki/Tan thread throughout as your has, your's, hard to tell, may be OD Cotton Sateen, these types whre made in the 50s in both materials, OD HBT and OD Cotton Sateen. Also these companies used GI tack buttons of the various types, the ones here are from what we can tell are the Laurel Leaf type, an army type, as Sully pointed out they look like the Navy type, but while similar they are different.

 

 

The Navy type upper right. The ones on your shirt you'll note has the Laurel Leaf Wreath with 5 stars above it (Go Figure, I can't find a close up of this tack button type ) . This type seems to be a common variant starting with the GI issue M47 HBT, though there might be M43 HBT stuff with them, late war made if anything.

[patches]

Is there ghosting of a shouldr patch?

[patches]

Found a close up of that Army style Laurel Leaf and Star tack button, in this an unpainted one, these can be seen like this, a dull metal, or painted OD or black.

[bryang]

There is obvious shadow on each collar, as well as some thread marks: The shape on the right collar is consistent with a Lieutenant's bar, while the left collar's shadow is consistent with Branch (possibly Infantry or Cavalry, based on the length).

 

 

On the left sleeve I see no thread marks, but a hint of a circle.

 

 

This top is also well-starched.

 

 

Bryan

 

 

 

 

[patches]

Hint of a circular patch, Hmm, my bet is Third Army, this 2nd Loouie was no doubt in a Basic Training Company, and Third Army commanded and controlled Basic Training at a least posts in the late 50s into the 60s, IE Fort Jackson, Fort Gordon.

 

[MattS]

That looks like cotton sateen to me, not HBT. Any army uniform with a white name tape and black/yellow army tape is most likely 1953 through the mid-1960s at the latest. In mid-1966, all tapes were ordered to be subdued. See: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/86004-what-years-were-the-different-styles-of-fatigue-shirt-name-tape-used/

[patches]

Oh I forgot, depending on the size of this circular patch, it could of also have been the 6th Army, 6th Army commanded basic at Fort Ord California.

 

 

 

 

 

[bryang]

What's of concern to me is that the name and U.S. Army tapes are sewn on so crudely ... even for a 2d Lieutenant. While I believe that the red helmet liner and the name tape are a pair - and that there are hints of rank and branch insignia previously affixed to the collar - I can't figure out why the poor sewing job.

 

 

Bryan

[patches]

What's of concern to me is that the name and U.S. Army tapes are sewn on so crudely ... even for a 2d Lieutenant. While I believe that the red helmet liner and the name tape are a pair - and that there are hints of rank and branch insignia previously affixed to the collar - I can't figure out why the poor sewing job.

 

 

Bryan

A guess would be that since all the other insignia is gone and that these tapes remained with shirt and liner, but unattached and loose, like put in one of the pockets, someone sewn them back on, crudely as you observed.

 

As an example, the U.S. ARMY tapes is not sewn on like it originally was, note the ghosting, and the scrunched up appearance, that shows the ghosting on either side.

BTW Do you what those used late 50s early-mid 60s Inf Officer BOS collar patches I got laying around?

 

Also, which size patch do you think fits the ghosting on the shoulder, 3rd or 6th Army?