Evening star., 1942-08-12
Capital Folk Often PerpIexed by Insignia
Of Rank Worn by British Officers Here

Hundreds of English officers are
! on duty here, and many Washing
! tonians wonder, when the Briton In
uniform passes by, whether they
are looking at the admiral Of the
| feet or subaltern. an air marshal
/ or wing commander, the colonel
/ of royal marines or field mar
! shal.
The relatively brilliant insignia of
English officers is the sign at once
| that they are not Americans. But
to distinguish the rank, and even
the branch of service of the Eng
lisl1man is often difficult because
the markings of rank and service
in the United Kingdom are differ
ent from our own.
Crowns, "pips," crossed cannon
and wing spread birds are popular
as rank badges with our Allies, while
we rest satisfied with bars, leaves,
eagles and stars. English Army Of
ficers above the rank of lieutenant
colonel wear something strange to
American of1cers-the gorget patch.
Red and Gold Trimmings.
The gorget patch is little bit OF
colored cloth above each lapel which
adds more flash to an already f1ashy
uniform, whose plain khaki is gor-
geously trimmed with much red and
gold. Tri-hued overseas caps, blue,
red and green, are something else
foreign to the American service.
Some of the shoulder markings
of English and American officers
are so closely alike, however, that
confusion occasionally arises. The
commonest mistake is to consider
an English Army captain, who
wears three "pips" on his shoulders,
as lieutenant general, because the
American lieutenant general wears
three stars on his shoulders.
At 20 PAGES the pip and the star
look much the same, but scrutiny
of the shoulder brings out their
dissimilarity. The pip is a sort OF
raised button Admirals, vice adj
mirals and rear admirals wear pips
that vaguely resemble eight-pet-
allied daisies. Other pip wearers.
like the army captain, have pips
that are more square.
Royal Navy Marks.
The Star herewith provides
catalogue Of identifying marks for
the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines,
the Royal Army and the Royal Air
Forces. The information Is avail
able at the British Information
Services Washington Office
In the Royal Navy, the cuff stripes
of officers are very much like our
own, except that the top stripes
is put through convolution which
the United States Navy lacks. THE
cap badge of the English naval
officer is red and gold crown set
above an anchor enclosed within a
wreath Of golden leaves.
Gold trim around the visor'S whole
visible edge decorates the caps of
admirals and commodores first class.
Gold trirn around the visor's front
edge decorates the caps of COM
modores second class, captains and
commanders.
Str1peS THICK ana INN.
To distinguish the rank OF naval
officers by cuff stripes-the admiral
OF the fleet has one thick gold stripe
and four thin stripes; admirals have
one thick stripe and three thin ones;
vice admirals have one thick and
two thin; rear admiras, one thick
and one thin; commodores, one
thick; captains, four thin; COM
manders, three thin; lieutenant
commanders, two thin with very
thin stripe between them; lieuten-
ant, two thin; sub-lieutenant, one
| thin.
To distinguish the rank Of naval
officers by shoulder markings-the
admiral OF the feet has gold shoul-
der straps decorated by crown, the
monogram CIR (for King George)
and a wreath inclosing two crossed
cannons; the admiral has gold
shoulder straps decorated by a
/ crown, a. crossed sword and cam
non and three pips; vice admiral
has the same with two pips; rear
admiral, same but one pip: a COM
/ modore first class has gold shoul-
| der strap decorated with a crown,
two pips and an anchor; officers
/ below his rank have blue shoulder