US Army Cap - Is this an Officer's Cap or Enlisted Man's

[anton67]

Can anyone tell me whether this is an officer or enlisted man's cap? Also, how can you tell?
Also, is it WWII era?

[Masonk]

Hi Mark,
This particular visor would be post WWII and based on the markings on the sweatband, it appears to be dated 8-22-1951 (see 1st photo) which would make it Korean War era.

With WWII visors, you could normally differentiate an Officer's visor from Enlisted Man's by the mohair band (see 2nd photo). However post WWII, it's hard to tell without a cap device. Judging by the shadow where the cap device was once attached, it appears this was an Enlisted Man's visor

Still a very nice visor. A period Officer's or EM cap device can be obtained fairly easily on EBay for not too much money...I would probably return it to its original glory and attach an EM device, though.

[Masonk]

Actually, taking a second look after blowing up your photo, it appears there is an indentation in the mohair band where the tail of an Officer's cap device once rested. See the area in question and a comparison to one of my visors in the photos below. And when looking at both photos, you can see the outline on your visor of the rest of the Officer's device.

So there was at some point an Officer's cap device attached. As to which came first, the EM or Officer, sky's the limit on this one!

[anton67]

My problem is that the date could be 1941, 1947, 1951 or even 1957. In looking at it in person it is extremely difficult to tell. Is there any other way to tell if it is WWII or Korean War Era?

[anton67]

Here are a couple more pics. To me it looks like it is either a 1941 or 1947. Also, the circle on the hat was put there by me. It did not have an insig. so I put an enlisted one on it which made the mark (that was all I had).

[Masonk]

Hmmm, this is a tough one. The designs are so similar when comparing WWII and post WWII/Korea. Not until the late 50's did the design change drastically. I'm now, however, leaning towards 47 based on the last set of photos you provided. Let's see what others say...

As an aside, here's a link to a good site (Wilson History and Research) with quality photos of headgear. I use this pretty frequently for authenticating/dating some of my items...

U.S. Army Visor Hats

[MySonsDad]

I thought that ost war (1947) the army went to a single service cap with a black visor, for both EM and Officers, or am I mistaking this for the newly formed Air Force of which the service caps of 1950 (possibly 1949) were only black visors?

Also, it looks as though the stiffiners have been removed. This was regulation for the Air Force service caps but not for post war Army. It was a common practice during WWII however, even for army (non-aviators) because they just liked the look and unoform regulations were so loosely enforced. But I'm no expert on service caps and may be off base on all accounts.

[reneblacky]

It's 47 dated, compare the 1 in 3111 to the 7 in 1947 (8-22-1947)
Also it looks to have had both EM and officers insignia
Nice cap