United States Army Uniform in World War II

The United States Army in World War II used a variety of standard and non-standard dress and battle uniforms, which often changed depending upon the theater of war, climatic environment, and supply exigencies.

The uniform consists of an Olive Drab (OD-51) peaked cap with a russet leather visor, white linen spread-collared shirt with a black worsted wool tie, Olive Drab wool trousers, an olive-drab (OD-51) wool four-button tunic with leather belt, and russet-brown leather Type I (leather-soled) service shoes.

By 1942 the white linen shirt was replaced by the "Class B" olive drab gabardine shirt (for temperate climates and cool weather) or "Class C" khaki poplin shirt (for tropical climates and hot weather). The black tie was replaced with a khaki tie made of mohair, tropical worsted or other khaki material without sheen or pattern.

With the Class A uniform (in current military terminology), insignia are worn on the tunic rather than the dress shirt's collars. The Enlisted arm- and branch-of-service insignia was embossed on circular pins, while the officer's insignia was "free work" (i.e., open design with no backing).

Officer's rank insignia are worn near the ends of the tunic's epaulets and their Distinctive Unit Insignia pins (featuring the unit's coat-of-arms) are optionally worn in the center of the epaulet. Their arm-of-service pins ("U.S." for the Regular Army) were worn on the upper lapels and their branch of service pins were worn on their lower lapels.

Enlisted men wore their "U.S." arm-of-service pin on the upper right lapel and their branch-of-service pin on their upper left lapel. Their Distinctive Unit Insignia pins were optionally worn on the lower lapels. Their Divisional patch was worn on the upper left sleeve between the top of the shoulder and the elbow and over the rank stripes. Veterans could wear the patch of the old or previous division they served in combat with on their right shoulder.

Wound Chevrons (awarded from 1918 to 1932 for wounds in combat) were worn on the lower right sleeve between the cuff and the elbow. Service Stripes, or "Hash Marks", (awarded for every 3 years of service) were worn on the lower left sleeve. World War I Overseas Chevrons [created 1918] and/or World War II Overseas Bars [created 1944] (awarded for each six months combat service overseas) were worn on the lower left sleeve between the elbow and lower sleeve, but above the Service Stripes. The World War II Bars were worn over the World War I Chevrons. After 1953 the Service Stripes were kept on the lower left sleeve and the Overseas Service Stripes were moved to the lower right sleeve.

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