Does anyone know what a horizontal, seemingly felt green bar just under the enlisted rank stripes on US WWII uniforms meant? I have an Ike and a shirt, both 4th Div., with these bars. I've seen a few vets wearing ike jackets with these under the stripes as well. At a show a guy told me they were a french award for bravery, but I"m not sure I believe him.

__________________
Living History at http://oldreliable9_47.tripod.com

If they are what im thinking of--those are "Hash Marks" for years of service.

__________________
Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

I think they are for combat tours.
Jack

Carl, Aren't those the ones on the uniform's sleeve(s) (meaning ^-like marks running from the bottom of the sleeve up. NOT underneath the rank insignia)?

I have seen them before too...Might be combat tours...Am not sure....

[ 15. November 2002, 12:39 PM: Message edited by: Stevin Oudshoorn ]

__________________
"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true!" - Homer Simpson

Hi Stevin--I dont know--I think they stand for both yrs of service--each bar is 3 years and the other ones can possibly be for campaigns--I'll ask Sarge when I see him today and will let you know what he said.

On one of my dads uniforms--he had 9 of these ^ and 4 of these - on his uniform which are located under his Sergeants Stripes. He retired as a Master Sergeant--three over and three under. Then under the stripes--were all ^ and - [img]smile.gif[/img]

__________________
Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

Nah, I know hash bars, these are one strip of green felt that are directly under the rank stripes. On the bottom two points of the Sgt. stripes, let's say, it runs the whole length. About 1 cm wide. There is one on both arms.

__________________
Living History at http://oldreliable9_47.tripod.com

Hi Doc, the stripe you are refering to is for service time. You got one stripe for every three years in, so one stripe would be from three to six years minus one day , two stripes six to nine years minus one day etc.

[ 15. November 2002, 07:18 PM: Message edited by: Steve ]

__________________
The soldier above all others prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. General Douglas Macarthur

No, it's not the service stripes, those are green embroidery on a black background and are slightly diagonal. The hash bars for 6 mos. service are yellow horizontal. Okay, you can check out http://oldreliable9_47.tripod.com , go to scrapbook, then living history, and there is a photo you can enlarge with 2 GIs and a real vet with an Ike jacket on. He has these bars.

__________________
Living History at http://oldreliable9_47.tripod.com

Hi Doc--I talked to Sarge yesterday. The one your talking about is for 6 months in a Combat Zone for each. Hope this helps--and the others are for three years of service for each mark.

__________________
Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

Nahhh, those are the gold hash bars. Man, I'm about to give up on this one. My uniforms has service stripes, ranks, hash bars, AND these weirdo stripes?????????????????????

__________________
Living History at http://oldreliable9_47.tripod.com

Doc--you got to show me a pic of the stripes in question--and if they are on the sleeves--the ones mentioned are the only ones I know about--and Based on what Sgt Vahaly had said.

Can you give me a more detailed explanation on these--like exactly what part of the sleeve they are on--how long are they etc.

__________________
Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

I finally got a good picture of what I'm talkin about!!!! Now, how the hecks do I post it?!?!

__________________
Living History at http://oldreliable9_47.tripod.com

Hi Doc--ask Otto to do it.

__________________
Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

Sounds good. It's nothing as cool as the medals you guys post, but it seems to have stumped enough people to at least have earned a post....

__________________
Living History at http://oldreliable9_47.tripod.com

Any militaria is cool to look at--whether made of metal or cloth. Im still working on Gary to post things on these forums where they are appreciated.

__________________
Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

Finally! I found a picture. It's the green bars just under the Sgt. Stripes, not the hash bars.

__________________
Living History at http://oldreliable9_47.tripod.com

Nice Tunic!!

I just printed a pic of it and will show Sarge it tonight and see what he thinks its for--i'll let you know tomorrow.

__________________
Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

If anybody gives a damn, we've got a theory for the green bars!! You may know that during WWII and as I understand even today officers that are combat leaders wear green loops on their eppaulets (sp). I thinlk after WWII NCO combat leaders did this as well. WELL, I'm guessing that the green bar under the stripes is the origingal NCO Combat Leadership insignia, maybe unofficial. Any ideas?

__________________
Living History at http://oldreliable9_47.tripod.com

Could it be an oversea stripe for world war one service? I'm not too sure since my photographic references tells me that those should be yellow. [img]smile.gif[/img]

regards

Nah, WWI overseas stripes were triangular, and they pointed down. They would have been down where the WWII hash bars are as well.

__________________
Living History at http://oldreliable9_47.tripod.com

Doc do you have the Osprey book about the us army in the eto or the Greenhill book about Patton's Third Army? There's a good picture there of a master sergeant with plenty of stripes of all kinds.

regards/ daniel [img]smile.gif[/img]

Yeah, is that the guy in the 5th division or the guy sitting at the desk looking mean? Those sleves are pretty amazing. My Sgt. Major (Marine Corps)had sleeves like that when I was in rotc.

__________________
Living History at http://oldreliable9_47.tripod.com

Ill be seeing Sarge again tonight. I had printed (but forgot to pick up the paper) so naturally it got lost, and I had not shown it to Sarge. Ill see if I can make a color printing from the librarians private printer, and will show it to Sarge tonight and see what he says it is.

Sarge has been overseas 3-1/2 years in Korea (2 different tours) and 9 years in Germany (4 tours) and the rest at Fort Ord, Fort Bliss, Fort Leonard Wood etc.

[ 17. December 2002, 12:19 PM: Message edited by: C.Evans ]

__________________
Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

This was taken from an add on ebay. Though definetly not the most reliable of sources (everything on there seems to have been in d-day) it does run along with the theory a few of us had.


"and the rare seldom seen Combat leaders green felt stripe patch on each sleeve. After D-DAY Soldiers and NCOs who actually took part in the early days of D-Day took to the practice of wearing these stripes to differentiate themselves from the soldiers who came in after the initial landings. In the mini series band of brothers theres a scene where a new soldier was wearing the unit citation for D Day when he actually wasnt there but was serving in the unit at the time. These green stripes meant you had seen and led in combat."

The units I see the stripe on are often not D-Day units, but I think this is the general idea.

[ 18. February 2003, 08:22 AM: Message edited by: Doc Raider ]

__________________
Living History at http://oldreliable9_47.tripod.com

Now real hard evidence, as I'm about 90% sure this was an unofficial practice. But, green marks, like the ones shown by Doc, indicated a combat leader-or in other words, someone who led troops underfire. I've seen this mentioned only once, in passing, in print.

I have been told by veterans that other then rank insignia, these green hashes were used to indicate a "leader". Only 1 mark was used, regardless of rank.

__________________
Wm.T. Ripley
http://oldreliable9_47.tripod.com