The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1917-10-25
ARMY INSIGNIA.

so, in fact, that it is often difficult to
recognize mans place in the service
at first glance. But closer view will
tell the whole story to any experienced
observer.
Insignia" is the term used to in-
clude all the badges, buttons, braids,
bat cords, and other devices which In
dlcate these three things:
| 1. The rank of each officer or sol
der.
2. His branch of the service or his
special duties.
3. His personal experience or record.
An ordinary private's uniform car
ries no insignia of rank. When man
becomes first-class private, however,
in the engineer corps, hospital corps,
ordinance department, quartermaster
corps, or signal corps, he is entitled to
wear on the sleeves of his coat and
shirt the design of the department 70
which he belongs.
A lance corporal wears on his sleeve
an inverted V-shaped bar. A corporal
has two bars, and sergeant three
bars. Below the sergeant's three v
shaped Gnverted) bars may appear
number of additional marks, indicat-
ing his duties. For example, first
sergeant has diamond-shaped mark
the stable sergeant has device repre-
senting a horses head; the color SER
geant has star; the battalion quar-
| termaster sergeant has three horizon
tai bars; the chief trumpeter has one
bar and device representing bugle;
and so on. All the cloth designs, such
as those just described, which are
sewn ON the sleeves, are known as
"chevrOnS."
Above the noncommissiOned officers,
rank is shown by various insignia on
| the shoulder loops of coats, on the
sleeves of coats and OvercOatS, on the
collars of shirts, and by hat cords.
The most important are those made of
metal and sewed on shoulder loops and
shirt collars. A major general has two
silver stars; brigadier general, one
silver star; colonel, a silver eagle;
lieutenant colonel, silver oak leaf;
major, gold oak leaf; captain,
two silver bars; and first lieutenant,
one silver bar. A second lieutenant
has no shoulder insignia. You can
readily tell the rank of any officer by
glancing at these metal insignia.
1t is often quite necessary, however,
to recognize that some one at little
distance is a commissioned officer in
@Iok with no
courtesy due to all officers; in this
case you look for the marks indicat-
ing that a man holds commission
without waiting to observe his exact
rank. Until recently commissioned Of
ficers customarily wore leather leg
gings, while all enlisted men wore can
vas leggings. However, leather leg
gings may now be worn by mounted
men. The hat cord is another mark Of
rank which is easily observed; the hat
cords of generals are gold; those of
other officers are of gold and black.
Another mark of an officer is a band
of brown braid about three inches
from the end of the coat sleeve. Off
GERS of the general staff corps wear
black braid instead of brown. On
overcoats the braid is sewn on in
loops except that of general officers,
who wear two black bands of braid.
Every branch of the service has its
special color which appears on the
hat cords of enlisted men, on the
chevrons of noncommissioned officers,
and in many other places. These
colors are:
Infantry, light blue; cavalry, yellow;
artillery, scarlet; adjutant generals,
inspector generals, and judge advo-
cate generals departments, dark blue;
engineer corps, scarlet intertwined
with white; signal corps, orange inter-
twined with white; medical depart
ment, maroon; quartermaster corps,
buff; ordnance department, black in
tertwined with scarlet.
BY remembering these colors you
will often be able easily TO recognize
men and troops. In addition to these
colors, every branch of the service has
its own device with all of which you
will soon become familiar.
The number of the regiment to which
each man belongs is on the collar Of
his coat. All regimental numbers will
run in three different series, showing
whether each regiment was originally
part of the regular army, of the Ma
tional Guard, or of the new National
army. The numbers of regiments for
merly of the regular army will begin
with the figure 1 and run up to the
figure 100; those of regiments former
" in the National Guard will begin
with figure 101 and run up to 800;
those of regiments in the new National
army will begin with figure 301. The
former National Guard regiments will
show also their former state deSigna-
tons, as, for example, ust Me.), ed
Pa.), etc. The device of regiments of
the new National army in the
same way will show the state from
which each organization, or the bulk
of it, was drawn, as, for example,
CIV. va.), (Minn), etc. Thus vol.
will easily be able to recognize not
only the mans regiment but also the
section of the country from which he
comes and how he got into the serv-
ice.
| Your insignia should have-and will
have-a big and deep meaning for you.
You will come TO respect them and TO
wish to honor them. You will find that
| they are more to you than pieces of
cord and cloth and metal. Behind you