View Full Version : Campaign hat
A long time ago, a very old timer who'd been a Marine in the 1930's and through WWII, told me that the reason he'd curled the back brim of his cover up Was so that he could fire his 1903 in the prone position and the back of his shoulders wouldn't push his cover forward to interfere with his shots.
Sounds correct to me. Any opinions?
http://www.jouster2.com/forums/webkit-fake-url://302820a6-b093-407b-bc9c-002780287ac8/imagejpeg
Roadkingtrax
07-11-2017, 09:39
Yes, same is true today.
Ken The Kanuck
07-11-2017, 09:58
I wonder why there is a pair of boots in front of the Thompson on the right?
KTK
I told a buddy of mine that he could have this hat if he'd like because he used to be in The Corps. He said that nobody but John Wayne curled his cover like that. I think he intended to iron the brim out again. I told him that he could try to appear like a drill instructor, but he'd only be a fraud because he never was one. That this cover belonged to a Nip killin Rifleman.
I'm not sure he should be given it.
Ken The Kanuck
07-11-2017, 11:00
Double tap
Yes, same is true today.
Thanks!
This looks like the turn of the century. Nice pics.
41446
Yep. That they are Jeff, but they're Marines and I liked the picture. :)
Anyway, the Cover or Hat is about a 7 1/4" size. My buddy's square head is a 7 1/2 to a 7 5/8's, so I'm going to stick it up in the closet and forget about it.
Griff Murphey
07-12-2017, 02:42
41449You can have them stretched by a good haberdasher. I bought mine in 1967 from PJ O'Hare for $5. My head has gotten bigger by close to a half size. A few years back I took it to Peters Bros. Hats in Ft. Worth and had it blocked, pressed, and stretched. I leave it on a shelf with plastic on it so it stays nice and flat. I must say that though I like the looks of them they are not the best for shooting prone or sitting. Today's Marines don't know that at one time everyone wore them, not just D. I.s.
clintonhater
07-12-2017, 04:29
41449 I bought mine in 1967 from PJ O'Hare for $5...
Wasn't aware Paddy was still doing business that late. I have a couple of his '30s catalogs, and campaign hats aren't even listed, although anything else you can imagine is. What he did offer was something much more practical for laying on your belly in the sun--a French Foreign-Legion type cap with neck-cloth.
Can get away with stretching half a size, but more than that distorts the shape of the brim.
Two good pix on front and back covers of the new GCA journal. Marines c. 1942 shooting M1s.
My buddy just sent this via Text...
Ha!!!
A soldier, a sailor, and a Marine were all on a float trip in the Amazon rain forest when they were surrounded and captured by cannibals. The chief cannibal told them, "Boys I've got good news and bad news. The bad news is you're all going to die, we are going to eat you, and we are going to use your skin to make our canoes. The good news is you get to choose how you will die."
The soldier said, "I'm parachute infantry. There's only one way for me to die." So they took him up to a cliff where he shouted "airborne" and jumped to his death.
The sailor said, "There's only one proper way for a sailor to die." So he had them tie a huge stone around his neck and toss him in the river. Just before he went under he shouted, "anchors aweigh!"
Finally the Marine asked for a fork and shouted, "semper fi" while stabbing himself all over. The cannibal chief asked, "What the hell are you doing?" To which the Marine replied, "Fu*k your canoe!"
aintright
07-13-2017, 02:19
^ that was good
Richard Turner/Turner Saddlery
07-14-2017, 05:03
41441
Fred:
The emblem on the cover was issued for use from 1937 to 1955. Specific use was "Enlisted bronze cap and hat ornament from 1937-1942" and "Enlisted bronze cap ornament from 1942 to 1955".
Semper Fi,
Richard
JB White
07-14-2017, 05:29
A soldier, a sailor, and a Marine were all on a float trip in the Amazon rain forest when they were surrounded and captured by cannibals....
You reminded me of the Amazon girl who, for his birthday, gave her boyfriend a little head.
Fred:
The emblem on the cover was issued for use from 1937 to 1955. Specific use was "Enlisted bronze cap and hat ornament from 1937-1942" and "Enlisted bronze cap ornament from 1942 to 1955".
Semper Fi,
Richard
Thanks Richard!
My dad was issued a campaign hat at Army basic training in the fall of 1941. By the time he returned from Alaska, the campaign hat was only issued to the Calvary. When he was told he could not wear the hat, he had the hat cleaned, blocked and shipped home. Dad got rid of the hat when we moved in 1955.
Richard Turner/Turner Saddlery
07-14-2017, 08:33
Here is a bit of history from Leatherneck Magazine:
October 17, 2005
The Lore of the Corps
DIs’ campaign cover symbolizes authority
By Keith A. Milks
Special to the Times
On the evening of April 8, 1956, Staff Sgt. Matthew McKeon, a drill instructor at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., led the 74 recruits of Training Platoon 71 into Ribbon Creek, a tidal marsh behind what are now the depot’s rifle ranges.
Unfortunately, the career Marine’s attempt to instill discipline in his recruits backfired as six young men drowned in the murky water.
What followed was a court-martial for McKeon and changes in training and operating standards. Another byproduct of the tragedy was the authorization for drill instructors to wear the campaign hat, or “Smokey Bear,” to serve as a symbol of authority for their recruits and prestige among their peers.
The Marine Corps’ adoption of the campaign cover for its drill instructors came nearly a century after the hat first gained acceptance with the U.S. military.
Campaign covers were initially black. In 1888, the Army introduced a brown variant; over time, the brim was widened and the center peak shortened.
The first Marines known to have worn the campaign cover were deployed to Cuba and the Philippines during the Spanish-American War of 1898. With war in these tropical regions looming, the Corps had requested a supply of hats from the Army and adopted the campaign hat as its own.
The field-expedient method of Marines “peaking” their hats, or making them more pointed at the top center to deflect rainwater, led to the adoption of the “Montana Peak” design in 1912. This four-dent crown cover is the version currently worn by Marines.
Leathernecks wore their campaign hats proudly throughout World War I. When World War II rolled around, the classification of felt as a critical war item, cost of manufacturing and need for a more practical field hat snatched the campaign cover from most Marines’ heads.
Shortly after the McKeon incident, Brig. Gen. Wallace M. Greene appropriated the necessary funds and contracted with J.B. Stetson Co. to purchase more than 600 campaign hats, which were distributed to drill instructors on July 21, 1956. Greene was commanding general of Recruit Training Command at the depot.
Five years later, the authorization to wear the campaign cover was extended to rifle and pistol team members and personnel permanently assigned to Marine ranges. Officers in such units wear the same cover as their enlisted comrades, but with a cord on the front brim — scarlet and gold for warrant and commissioned officers, and gold for general officers.
Both the Army and Air Force followed the Corps’ example by adopting the campaign hat for wear by their respective entry-level enlisted trainers. Army drill sergeants began wearing the hat in 1964, while some years later the Air Force adopted its distinctive blue campaign hat. The hat is also a favorite of law enforcement agencies across the United States.
In October 1996, after years of debate, female Marine drill instructors traded in the red cords worn to distinguish them as drill instructors for the campaign cover worn by their male counterparts.
The writer is a gunnery sergeant stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C. He can be reached at kambtp@aol.com.
Vern Humphrey
07-14-2017, 01:25
The Marine Corps’ adoption of the campaign cover for its drill instructors came nearly a century after the hat first gained acceptance with the U.S. military.
The Campaign Hat was adopted by the Army about 1850, on the recommendation of Colonel William Hardee, based on experience in the Mexican War. It was called the "Hardee Hat," or the "Jeff Davis" hat after the Secretary of War who approved Hardee's recommendation. The version worn nowadays is the M1911 version.
At one time, the campaign hat was de riguer for outdoorsmen, but it has sadly fallen into disuse.
clintonhater
07-14-2017, 03:40
At one time, the campaign hat was de riguer for outdoorsmen, but it has sadly fallen into disuse.
They show up being worn by hunters & fishermen in hundreds of magazine cover and other sporting illustrations from around 1900 through the '30s. Unfortunately, they look better than they "wear," as I found out over the course of 2 or 3 years when I wore a GI issue dated 1944 (enlisted man's cheap wool felt) when fishing & hunting--it was heavy and uncomfortable (due to chemicals used to stiffen the felt) compared to what I usually wear, a soft fur felt fedora.
Actually, I think the best looking and most comfortable campaign-style hat was the Army's M1899, made of thinner, softer felt with a long fore & aft crease--which is the shape I steam into my own hats. In one of Fred's photos, there's a group of
Krag-era soldiers sitting on a porch wearing this model.
Griff Murphey
07-14-2017, 04:17
41462 One of my friends was working on the Missouri Pacific RR in the 70's and biggest decided to project the image of an old time railroader and tried wearing a campaign hat, but his friends gave him so much guff he gave it up.
I have worn one shooting in a CMP match with khaki jodhpurs and leggings but when I was actually shooting I switched to an overseas cap. That brim just gets in the way. Yes it IS a hot hat. But they do look cool. I did R. Lee Ermey one Halloween - maybe I can find that picture. Oh here it is...
Vern Humphrey
07-14-2017, 04:53
Actually, I think the best looking and most comfortable campaign-style hat was the Army's M1899, made of thinner, softer felt with a long fore & aft crease--which is the shape I steam into my own hats. In one of Fred's photos, there's a group of
Krag-era soldiers sitting on a porch wearing this model.
I have one of those -- you can get reproductions from http://www.eureka-arsenal.com/
Vern Humphrey
07-15-2017, 07:34
41464
41465
The upper hat is incorrect. That's an enlisted man's hat (an infantryman -- you can tell by the blue cord.) The insignia is for an officer. It should have the regimental crest instead.
Thanks Vern! Actually the hat with the blue infantry cord is the original hat that I had the USMC insignia on. That hat originally came with nothing on it.
That hat that now has the Marine emblem on it was the one that came to me with the Blue Cord on it and the Army insignia that was also on it came with the brass disc that was behind the insignia. I'll just take the Army insignia off alltogether and leave the blue cord on it along with the brown leather strap attached to it.
I like that hat better without the brass Army insignia on it anyway.
Just having some fun with my two hats.
clintonhater
07-15-2017, 08:15
Sweatband markings, inc. contractor no., are exactly the same on mine--the one I made a valiant, but futile, attempt to make my regular outdoors hat.
Looking at it again, I'm impressed by the intelligence of whatever anonymous Quartermaster clerk thought it made good sense to call a hat a hat, as opposed to labeling it with a stupidly vague term like "cover." How many different kinds of "covers" would have been in the inventory of the QC? Covers for breech mechanisms, muzzles, sights, entrenching tools, mess-kits, and hundreds of other items for which only a generic term could be used, because there existed no more specialized term. But every language provides an unconfusing general term for an article of clothing worn on the head, and that term is "hat."
Vern Humphrey
07-15-2017, 08:34
Thanks Vern! Actually the hat with the blue infantry cord is the original hat that I had the USMC insignia on. That hat originally came with nothing on it.
That hat that now has the Marine emblem on it was the one that came to me with the Blue Cord on it and the Army insignia that was also on it came with the brass disc that was behind the insignia. I'll just take the Army insignia off alltogether and leave the blue cord on it along with the brown leather strap attached to it.
I like that hat better without the brass Army insignia on it anyway.
Just having some fun with my two hats.
You can find regimental crests online -- I have 61st Infantry crests (my regiment in Viet Nam).
Mine would be the 1/73rd Armor then. Hmmm...
Guess I'd better replace that blue Infantry cord with a Cavalry yellow cord then.
Vern Humphrey
07-15-2017, 10:15
Mine would be the 1/73rd Armor then. Hmmm...
Guess I'd better replace that blue Infantry cord with a Cavalry yellow cord then.
Then you would need a yellow (cavalry) hat cord.
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