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more unidentified militaria of mixed provenance

OK, I’ve come to the bottom of my family militaria barrel but hope to identify things. This is a batch of things, of obviously mixed provenance, kept by my mother. A few messages to rec.heraldry helped narrow down the cardinals: likely something from WWII and hence from cousin Wilbur (army air forces) rather than from my grandfathers in WWI. But they could come from my grandfather Marvin, who subsequent to WWI was a reserve officer in Kentucky. But here’s the whole group of potentially military items:

The WWI Victory Medal and the ‘Honorably Discharged – World War’ pin must both have belonged to my mother’s father Carle Tucker, who had enlisted but was in an officer training camp when WWI ended and was presumably discharged as a private shortly thereafter. The small heraldic badge with motto ‘sustineo alas’ certainly belonged to my cousin Wilbur, who was in the Army Air Forces in WWII and trained in parachute repair / rigging at Chanute Field in Illinois; this was the DUI of the AAF Technical Services Command which was based at Chanute AFB. The cardinals remain a mystery; and what about the ’50-500′ star pin? And what about the thing that looks like a lieutenant’s bar but is light-blue enamel over gold-tone base metal? Something non-military? Something pre-WWI? I should warn that the baggie of goods out of which these came contained also a masonic pin and a pin from the Gloucester (Massachusetts) High School marching band. So: this bar could be non-military or have some other origin. Any ideas? I have Wilbur’s separation record but not one for either grandfather; perhaps I should request those records to see whether they help illuminate things.

3 Comments

  1. Nat Taylor wrote:

    OK, I’ve been looking around online and the odd-looking rectangular bar pin is likely much older than any of this other stuff. My grandfather Marvin Taylor was an infantry first lieutenant in the First World War. But HIS grandfather Samuel Matlack was an infantry first lieutenant in the Civil War. This pin is identical in design to Civil War-era shoulder strap insignia for infantry first lieutenants. But shoulder insignia were embroidered cloth, not pins. Was this some sort of post-war, non-regulation item for Lieut. Matlack, or was it regulation for use in certain contexts (dress)? I can find nothing online for such rank insignia pins but the design and color indicate pre 1878. Unfortunately there is no maker’s information on the back.

    Sunday, September 28, 2008 at 03:33 | Permalink
  2. Nat Taylor wrote:

    OK, I see from usmilitariaforum.com that it is a G.A.R. officer’s pin, surely from Samuel Matlack, who d. 1881.

    Sunday, September 28, 2008 at 14:27 | Permalink
  3. Nat Taylor wrote:

    And the enamel cardinals are from the 400th Infantry Regiment, HQ’d at Louisville in the 1920s & 1930s: my grandfather’s unit when he was a reserve officer. Again, quick answer from usmilitariaforum.com.

    Sunday, September 28, 2008 at 14:27 | Permalink

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  1. […] Samuel Matlacks of Fairfield County, Ohio.” An officer’s pin from Matlack’s G.A.R. insignia. This was written by Nat Taylor. Posted on Monday, September 21, 2009, at 10:11. Filed under US […]

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