Trying to determine where the unit crest was worn on the Ike jacket. Some pictures show it worn on the lepals, some on the shoulder tabs, but most not worn at all. Is there some Army Regulation that would cover this? Thanks.
I'm wondering if this wiki article answers your question, since the Ike jacket was classified as a Class A jacket. With the Class A uniform (in current military terminology), insignia are worn on the tunic rather than the dress shirt's collars. The Enlisted arm- and branch-of-service insignia was embossed on circular pins, while the officer's insignia was "free work" (i.e., open design with no backing). Officer's rank insignia are worn near the ends of the tunic's epaulets and their Distinctive Unit Insignia pins (featuring the unit's coat-of-arms) are optionally worn in the center of the epaulet. Their arm-of-service pins ("U.S." for the Regular Army) were worn on the upper lapels and their branch of service pins were worn on their lower lapels. Enlisted men wore their "U.S." arm-of-service pin on the upper right lapel and their branch-of-service pin on their upper left lapel. Their Distinctive Unit Insignia pins were optionally worn on the lower lapels. Their Divisional patch was worn on the upper left sleeve between the top of the shoulder and the elbow and over the rank stripes. Veterans could wear the patch of the old or previous division they served in combat with on their right shoulder. United States Army uniforms in World War II - Wikipedia I also found this snippet from an online discussion Army Regulation AR 670-1 WEAR AND APPEARANCE OF ARMY UNIFORMS AND INSIGNIA is the manual that covers this. I have them going back to pre-WW2. I will need to do a backward search to find the first time they were authorized. However the 1979 reg states all of the time periods that are authorized until that time. It is a s follows: 1. 12/7/41 - 9/2/46 WW2 2. 6/27/50 - 7/27/54 plus 4/1/68 - 8/31/73 Korea 3. 7/1/58 - 3/28/73 Vietnam 4. Those returning to CONUS after 4/29/65 Dominican Republic. This one is a bit complicated. If anyone is interested I can give more detail. Application of insignia for typical uniforms - UNIFORMS [REF] USA
Thanks for the reply Lou. My brother was in from 42 until 46 and it's his Ike jacket, so it was WWII. When I served in the 60's the crest for us grunts was worn on the epaulet, but after reading your post, I think the lower lepal would be correct for WWII. "Their Distinctive Unit Insignia pins were optionally worn on the lowerlapels." If the AR's actually used the term "optionally", I can understand the confusion. But I have a feeling whoever wrote the Wicki article may have thrown that in because he wasn't sure. When it came to the uniform, there was very little left to option. When I was given the uniform, the unit crest were either removed or was never worn. I found a good period set on EBay and put them on the epaulets but think I'll move them to the lower lepals.
You're probably right. The "optional" term does lead to confusion. I would feel comfortable putting the DUI on the lower lapel. When it's done, why don't you post pictures of the finished product?
AR 600-40, it is on the PDF's page 17. Look for 67. Distinctive insignia and trimmings http://www.90thidpg.us/Research/Original/AR60040/AR 600-40 (Mar 1944) With Changes.pdf
Page 24 (2) --can't get more clear than that. Thank to both you and Lou. Yes, I'll post a picture-also one of the display.