Warrant Officer Insignia - 1954 transition?

[Captainofthe7th]

I have read through the topic on here about warrant officer insignia a few times and searched around, but haven't found a concrete answer. I have a uniform to a CWO4 who retired at the end of 1955. He was promoted to CWO4 a year earlier in 1954.

 

Would he have worn the new style insignia? Or were the grades introduced at the time but the insignia not there yet, and they retained the rounded bars of WWII vintage?

 

The uniform is a chocolate 4 pocket. Is it possible to find pinback CWO4 bars?

 

Rob

[Justin B.]

Authorization of the new four-grade bars was announced 10 Nov 1955, and they became mandatory 1 Dec 1956. So he would be right at the beginning of the transition. Before that, after 1949 it was the WW2 style: WOJG for W-1, and CWO for W-2, -3 and -4.

 

Justin B.

[Captainofthe7th]

Thanks, Justin, that's exactly what I needed. I think he would have worn the WWII style rounded. He retired on 30 Sep 55, before the announcement. I have most of my books packed away for a few weeks, is this in Emerson's encyclopedia?

 

Rob

[Justin B.]

I have most of my books packed away for a few weeks, is this in Emerson's encyclopedia?

 

I don't think so. Those specific dates come from documents in my own collection, but here is something from the Army Reserve magazine, which is archived pretty well online:

 

 

https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uva.x001765256?urlappend=%3Bseq=325