crossed rifle patch USMC

[NOTABIKER]

I was at a antique store with the wife and saw a USMC uniform [ green ] I do not know how old it was but it was 2 stripes. is that a lance corporal ?. sorry i was in the army . My question is i was trying to make out what kind of rifles were depicted crossed above the stripes ? almost looked like model 1917s.
expert on USMC please chime in
THANKS

[NastyNate]

2 stripes is a Corporal. The rifles depicted are M1's. The details are clearer on a shirt sleeve inisgnia.

NastyNate

[NastyNate]

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41AAPdK7tQL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

The collar insignia don't look much like an M1 but the sleeve chevrons definitely do.

NastyNate

[NOTABIKER]

I was in the ARMY but i have MUCH respect for the USMC. all those Pacific battles were fighting to the death in horrible climate conditions.

[I Swan]

A lot of Army fought in the Pacific as well. Plus Navy of course.

[Riceball]

If the chevron has the crossed rifles then the uniform is probably not that old, definitely post WW II, the Corps didn't add the crossed rifles until sometime after WW II. I can't say for certain when exactly the change occurred but my guess is that it was sometime after Korea, maybe around the '60s during Vietnam.

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk 2

[gunboat]

I think the "crossed rifles", lance corporal rank, came about after the change from and E-7 to an E-10 system -- that was about 1957-58 --

[cplbuck]

That uniform was probably a jacket for what we called alphas. We had two, one made of wool and the other made of polyester. Wool was winter service, poly was for summer. Summer service began the first day of daylight savings time. That's also the day everyone rolled their sleeves up. The end of daylight savings time in the fall was when the sleeves came down. I was a corporal by the time I got out. Our uniform regs were a mile long. I miss those days.

[NOTABIKER]

i would say wool for sure, really not very dressy looking. It would be the one you would see in everyday use not the Magnificent looking dress uniform. i thought the rear of the receivers looked like 1917s not a garand. the stitching was not that clear.

[cplbuck]

The "magnificent" uniform you speak of are the Dress Blues. We weren't required to buy those, unless you were in some specific MOS'. I only wore my Alphas during inspections that were twice a year being a truck mechanic. Thanks for the compliment. Your Army dress uniforms are pretty sharp too. Not trying to be insulting or anything but, today's Army cammies are awful! Why is the rank insignia a patch in the center of the chest. Army uniforms looked outstanding back in the 1960's and 1970's. Back when you guys bloused your boots and rolled up your sleeves in summer.

[Pofoo]

A lot of Army fought in the Pacific as well. Plus Navy of course.

/\ This. The Army's role in the Pacific has been vastly underated by most historians.

[I Swan]

I felt a little silly wearing a crackerjack uniform even though it's so traditional.

[NOTABIKER]

the canal, Philippians, Okinawa,attu, many others. but the USMC deserves the most credit. I have read a lot of pacific WW 2 books and the Marines rock. Tarawa, the early fighting at the canal etc. more medal of honors were given to marines on iwo jima than all the rest of the battles combined.

[gunboat]

My Dad was a CWO in the 6th marine div --
12th amphibian tractor battalion -
He left in feb 43 and returned sep 46 -
My t99 is a battlefield pick up from okinawa --
At the wars end he was on guam awaiting the invasion of japan.
at wars end he was sent to china to take surrender of
japanese forces there --
I have two swords and Hari-kari knife from japanese surrender in
tsingtao china --
I just passed them on to my son --
I was very lucky the war ended and he returned --
Although a year after cessation of hostilities --

[major burnout]

the canal, Philippians, Okinawa,attu, many others. but the USMC deserves the most credit. I have read a lot of pacific WW 2 books and the Marines rock. Tarawa, the early fighting at the canal etc. more medal of honors were given to marines on iwo jima than all the rest of the battles combined.

My Paternal Grandfather was in the Army. 77th I believe. He kept a journal and after the war put together a photo scrapbook. It was interesting to see how he transformed from a fully outfitted soldier posing for pics in san diego to a battle hardened tunnel rat in a t-shirt and cut offs in the south pacific. One pic has him at the entrance to a tunnel with a sword, T-38, meatball flag and other stuff he dragged out. He has numerous pictures of his friends in the south pacific with captions like 'killed on hill 38'. One of the coolest thing he brought back was a jap map with lots of hand written notes next to circled islands. I need to have it translated.

He talked to my dad about the war once or twice, my Grandfather said one time the man on his right was killed and moments later the man on his left was killed. He couldnt understand why he wasnt killed. The army boys didnt have it too easy.