1st Marine Div possible bloodied

[Catfishcraig]

Picked this up thinking the red thread could mean it was sewn onto red felt??

[Catfishcraig]

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[jasonc]

Very nice! I also have a couple with red threads remaining like that and thought "blooded" also. I can't say what they used to be attached to, but they sure do look nice now!

[Brig]

Color thread wouldn't matter on a blooded patch, as it wouldn't be visible on the felt anyway. Red thread is likely not an indicator of having been "blooded"

[Allan H.]

Color thread wouldn't matter on a blooded patch, as it wouldn't be visible on the felt anyway. Red thread is likely not an indicator of having been "blooded"

 

Uh, I don't want to disagree, but I disagree. Obviously, you can see the color of the thread on the border of the patch itself. It stands out. Why use red thread to sew the patch on to a set of alphas or on to a set of dress blues? A blue patch with red stitching on a navy blue jacket would stand out just as red thread stitching on forest green. It would definitely catch the eye. If the patch were sewn to a red backing, the color of the thread would stand out less than if you used black or white thread to sew it to a red background. Notice that the patch was machine sewn. Some marine didn't do this work in his barracks. Someone paid to have the patch sewn to whatever it was sewn to.

 

I think that the supposition that the patch COULD have been sewn to a "bloodied" background makes sense more than a seamstress using red thread to sew it to a uniform. If she was a professional, she would know that the color of the thread she was using was important to the overall look of the job she was doing, and if she wasn't doing it right, she would either have to redo it or she would lose business. Finally, What first sergeant or sergeant major would ever let a patch sewn with an unusual color of thread go unnoticed and in-corrected?

 

My two cents,

Allan

[Brig]

I think the red would still stand out on a blooded, because it's bordered by blue. Why wouldn't the seamstress go with blue, as it would blend into the patch and not be seen against the red felt beneath? While it's subtle when there's a red backing, I think it could also be considered subtle and matching to the red Divisional '1'. Or perhaps his mom or sister did the stitching while on leave. I also don't think we can really worry about the 1stSgt losing it, as we routinely see much worse violations of regulations of the era... unauthorized devices on marksmanship badges, ribbons grossly out of order, even collar emblems on backwards. The things that would give us coronaries today were often not as worrisome then.

 

In the end, I don't think we can give an absolute answer that the patch was blooded or not, and without the blooding material the value is not raised beyond that of a typical uniform-removed 1st Division (I would hope), so we are left to speculate and discuss the possibilities

[ocsfollowme]

Someone could have sewn it to a patch quilt with red thread and someone could have just seam ripped the patch off. It's one of those things that you just never know.

[Kadet]

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/296883-wwii-usmc-named-1st-marine-division-dress-blues/

[Catfishcraig]

Thanks for your comments! Its anyones guess in the end. Its my hunch the probability it was a bloodied patch is small but it looks cool and stands out in my collection. I just cant bring myself to pay what authentic bloodied patches go for.

 

Craig

[Catfishcraig]

It came in the mail today and it turned out to be a nice greenback variation.