United States Army enlisted rank insignia of World War II The U . S . Army enlisted rank insignia that was used during World War II differs from the current system . The color scheme used for the insignia ' s chevron design was defined as either silver grey on dark blue , olive drab on dark blue , or khaki on dark blue ( as seen in the charts below ) . This scheme of rank insignia was established by War Department Circular No . 303 on 5 August 1920 and would see two significant changes in 1942 . The usage of this style of insignia was ended by Department of the Army Circular No . 202 , dated 7 July 1948 , which provided for significant changes in both rank and insignia . 1920 - 1942 . Specialist . The rank of Private Specialist , usually just called a Specialist , had the command responsibilities and official insignia of a Private First Class , but also conveyed higher pay depending on the specialty and skill . While the official insignia was just a single chevron , it was not uncommon for commanders to authorize local use of specialist insignia which consisted of one chevron and one to six rockers depending on the pay grade of the specialist ( one rocker at Grade 6 , six rockers at Grade 1 ) and a specialty symbol located between the chevron and the first rocker . These were often identical to a specialty symbol which had been authorized for use during World War I . 1942 changes . Technicians . On January 8 , 1942 , under War Department Circular No . 5 , the ranks of Technician Third Grade ( T / 3 ) , Technician Fourth Grade ( T / 4 ) , and Technician Fifth Grade ( T / 5 ) were created and replaced the existing specialist ranks . Initially , these ranks used the same insignia as the Staff Sergeant , Sergeant , and Corporal , but on September 4 , 1942 , Change 1 to AR 600 - 35 added a " T " for " Technician " to the standard chevron design that corresponded with that grade . Despite that , as with the Specialists that they replaced , unofficial insignia using a specialty symbol instead of the T were used in some units . A technician was generally not addressed as such , but rather as the equivalent line ( NCO ) rank in its pay grade ( T / 5 as Corporal ; T / 4 as Sergeant ; T / 3 as Sergeant or Staff Sergeant ) . Officially , a technician did not have the authority to give commands or issue orders but could under combat conditions be placed second in command of a squad by a Sergeant . Unofficially , most units treated them as though they were of the equivalent rank of the same pay grade . The Technician ranks were removed from the rank system in 1948 . The concept was brought back with Specialist ranks of in 1955 . Technical Sergeant . Technical Sergeant was renamed Sergeant First Class in 1948 . However , it still survives as an Air Force rank . First Sergeant . On September 22 , 1942 , in Change 3 , AR 600 - 35 , the rank of First Sergeant ( 1st Sgt . ) was increased from 2nd Grade to 1st Grade in pay . The insignia was changed to add third rocker to match the other 1st Grade rank , Master Sergeant . A hollow lozenge placed in the angle of the chevrons has been the distinguishing indicator of a First Sergeant in the U . S . Army since 1847 . Pay grades . In 1902 , the pay grade system was modified as to be numbered in reverse order . During World War II , " 1st Grade " signified the highest enlisted grade ( Master Sergeant ) and downward from there with " 7th Grade " indicating the lowest ( Private ) . In 1948 , the pay grades were reversed back to the original system with " 1st Grade " being the lowest enlisted grade . Starting in 1951 , an " E " — which stands for " Enlisted " — was used to represent a pay grade . Abbreviations . As seen in the comparative chart below , the U . S . Army ranks during World War II were not abbreviated the same as they currently are today having all letters capitalized . Rather , only the first letter was capitalized , followed by the rest of the abbreviated word in the lower case , and a period to indicate it as being an abbreviation . In some cases , two or more letters were capitalized with a slash mark after the first letter to indicate there was more than one word in the full title of the rank . See the comparative chart below . Comparative chart . Some ranks are not included in the chart for a proper comparison .