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Vintage Navy Hospital Corps officer-warrant officer insignia


Bob Hudson
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This has been driving me crazy: it's new old stock from a San Diego uniform shop that was in business from about 1935 to 1973. I looked online and found nothing like it except for one listing where someone had what they called a reproduction of a WWII Navy Medical Corps insignia. Well it's not Medical Corps, but it does appear to be Navy Hospital Corps as worn by officers and warrant officers from 1913 to 1947. I of course am open to any all comment, speculation, rumor or reference on this:

 

med1.jpg

 

med2.jpg

 

Here's some background from a US Navy website:

 

Uniform regulations issued in 1913 changed the design of the corps device of chief pharmacists and pharmacists from the Geneva cross to a caduceus embroidered in silver or in gold, respectively. The enlisted men of the Hospital Corps, referred to as "Hospital Corpsmen", retained the Geneva cross, made of red cloth, as their specialty mark. By these regulations the chief pharmacists were allowed to wear on the sleeves of their frock and blue service coats one stripe of ½" gold lace woven with dark blue silk thread for widths of ½" at intervals of 2 inches, and to wear the same cap device as other commissioned officers. The pharmacists had no stripe on their sleeves and they retained the cap device consisting of two gold foul anchors crossed.

 

By Change in Uniform Regulations No. 25, dated November 16, 1918 (but not effective until July 1, 1921) the corps device, a gold embroidered caduceus, was placed on the sleeves of chief pharmacists, ¼" inch above the broken gold lace stripe, and on those of pharmacists 4" from the edge of the sleeve, they having no stripe. Change in Uniform Regulations No. 28, dated November 13, 1919, changed the sleeve marking of chief warrant officers to one stripe of ½" lace and gave the warrant officers one stripe of ¼" lace. However, when new uniform regulations were issued in 1922 the broken lace stripe was designated for the sleeves of these officers - chief warrant officers, one ½" stripe and warrant officers one ¼" stripe, woven at intervals of 2 inches with dark blue silk thread in widths of ½ inch. These marks of rank and corps also appeared on the shoulder marks worn with white service coats and overcoats. Thus, the corps insignia for both chief pharmacists and pharmacists became the same, a gold caduceus, (the former's previously being of silver), and their difference in grade was noted by the width of their gold and blue lace stripe and their cap device.

 

The Hospital Corps had heretofore consisted of chief warrant officers, warrant officers and enlisted men, but by Act of Congress approved July 24, 1941, providing for the temporary appointment or advancement of personnel of the Navy, persons of the Hospital Corps were appointed to commissioned rank. These officers wore the Hospital Corps insignia, a gold caduceus, as directed by Bureau of Navigation Circular Letter No. 12-42 dated 27 January, 1942, until passage of the "Officer Personnel Act of 1947", approved August 7, 1947, which provided for their appointment in the newly created Medical Service Corps or reversion to their former permanent rank. The only commissioned officers remaining in the Hospital Corps were those who had been placed on the Retired List. In accordance with certain provisions of this act the names "Chief Pharmacists" and "Pharmacists" were abolished and officers in those grades were referred to as "Chief Warrant Officer, Hospital Corps" and "Warrant Officer, Hospital Corps".

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I think it is PHARMACIST.

 

USN___USMC_INS_5.jpg

 

Thanks Craig.

 

I have looked all over and can find no photos of it in use, but I imagine not a lot of people wore it since it was WO's and officers only.

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I did find elsewhere on the forum this shoulder board for a "Pharmacist Warrant Officer (Junior Grade)."

 

 

post-837-1220675236.jpg

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I finally found the right keywords to narrow down the search to a Warrant Officer "Chief Pharmacist" as opposed to a "Chief Pharmacist Mate," who had the red cross on his rating.

 

So here's the Pharmacist caduceus on a uniform and what a uniform it is:

 

stanley.jpg

 

I found this on Wikipedia:

 

Robert Henry Stanley (May 2, 1881 – July 15, 1942) was a United States Navy sailor and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for carrying messages under fire during the Boxer Rebellion.

 

and

"Stanley was discharged from the military only three months after being awarded the Medal of Honor, on August 8, 1901, but later re-enlisted to serve in World War I. He retired on February 1, 1939, having reached the warrant officer rank of Chief Pharmacist. Three years later, he died in Pensacola, Florida, at age 61 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery."

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Why does he have a regular officers cap device

rather than a warrent device??

 

He was a "Chief Pharmacist (Commissioned Warrant Officer)" - equivalent to Ensign, except that when the two were together, the Ensign was in command.

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craig_pickrall

I would love to see a new Ensign giving orders that didn't make sense to a MOH winner old enough to be his grandfather. I bet that would be a hoot.

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MT(me thinks) your insignia belongs on the winter jacket cuff. (MT like IMO or IMHO)the insignia looks a lot like the stuff we today call tinsel. I have insignia (enlisted and officer) like it that dates from the war but may be late war and seems (IMHO) never to have been universally used. I think the tailors would have jumped on this stuff but again(MT and IMHO) the guys in the fleet avoided it, the war ended, the need for it went away. That is until later in the century when it was forced on all Chiefs and officers. I think this stuff is super rare but universally not accepted.

 

John

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MT(me thinks) your insignia belongs on the winter jacket cuff. (MT like IMO or IMHO)the insignia looks a lot like the stuff we today call tinsel. I have insignia (enlisted and officer) like it that dates from the war but may be late war and seems (IMHO) never to have been universally used. I think the tailors would have jumped on this stuff but again(MT and IMHO) the guys in the fleet avoided it, the war ended, the need for it went away. That is until later in the century when it was forced on all Chiefs and officers. I think this stuff is super rare but universally not accepted.

 

John

 

This particular item was not optional: it was Corps insignia for officers, just as these are:

 

corps.jpg

 

There is a history of the Hospital Corps at http://www.corpsman.com/history/history-of...hospital-corps/ and it is worth reading. We often hear of "corpsman" and "pharmacist mates," but the commissioned component of the Hospital Corps is little known. That history has some details, including:

 

"The next revision in the structure of the Hospital Corps would come by act of Congress on August 29, 1916. Under this plan, the rates would be hospital apprentices, second class and first class (both of whom wore a red cross on the sleeve), pharmacist’s mates, third, second, and first, and chief pharmacist’s mate. The officer contingent of the Hospital Corps would include the two warrant officer ranks of pharmacist and chief pharmacist."

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Salvage Sailor
He was a "Chief Pharmacist (Commissioned Warrant Officer)" - equivalent to Ensign, except that when the two were together, the Ensign was in command.

 

Old style right facing cap eagle too.....

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  • 9 months later...
Why does he have a regular officers cap device

rather than a warrent device??

 

 

What was the Warrant Officer hat device? What period of time did they wear that device?

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What was the Warrant Officer hat device? What period of time did they wear that device?

 

Gold crossed foul anchors, with a quarter-inch chin strap instead of half-inch.

 

1869: Crossed foul anchor cap device authorized for warrant officers.

1899: Grade of commissioned (chief) warrant officer authorized.

1901: Commissioned warrant officers authorized same cap device as commissioned officers.

1949: Grades of W-1 through W-4 established, W-1 with insignia of WO, W-2 and up the insignia of CWO.

 

All W-1 insignia, including cap device, are still on the books, though the navy doesn't currently utilize the W-1 grade.

 

See lower left of this scan from "The Naval Officer's Uniform Plan," 1943:

 

post-3982-1306708177.jpg

 

Best regards,

Justin B.

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Gold crossed foul anchors, with a quarter-inch chin strap instead of half-inch.

 

1869: Crossed foul anchor cap device authorized for warrant officers.

1899: Grade of commissioned (chief) warrant officer authorized.

1901: Commissioned warrant officers authorized same cap device as commissioned officers.

1949: Grades of W-1 through W-4 established, W-1 with insignia of WO, W-2 and up the insignia of CWO.

 

All W-1 insignia, including cap device, are still on the books, though the navy doesn't currently utilize the W-1 grade.

 

See lower left of this scan from "The Naval Officer's Uniform Plan," 1943:

 

 

Best regards,

Justin B.

 

 

Justin,

 

Thank you for posting. Do you have the instruction that sets the device back to that of a commissioned officer (like the 1901 entry above) as they currently have?

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Justin,

 

Thank you for posting. Do you have the instruction that sets the device back to that of a commissioned officer (like the 1901 entry above) as they currently have?

 

Sorry if I wasn't clear above. The cap device for the lowest grade of warrant officer has basically not changed from 1869 to today. The only WO grade that is appointed by a warrant rather than a commission is W-1. W-2 and up hold commissions and so they wear the commissioned officers cap badge. The W-1 grade insignia are still the crossed anchors on the cap, narrow chinstrap and the quarter-inch broken "pinstripe" rank insignia on the sleeves and shoulder marks, and still appear in current Uniform Regulations, but the W-1 grade has not actually been used for many years.

 

Best regards,

Justin B.

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