Article about: Greetings all, I acquired this shirt a little while ago and am curious about the ‘unit insignia’. The shirt itself is a summer-weight model (rather than Tropical), with no discernible markin
Greetings all,
I acquired this shirt a little while ago and am curious about the ‘unit insignia’.
The shirt itself is a summer-weight model (rather than Tropical), with no discernible markings remaining. It has been fitted with silver-coloured buttons of a seemingly plastic material, which appear to be very old replacements (though no previous stitch holes can be seen).The insignia are fixed with safety pins which do not look particularly old, however, so I do not believe them to have been on the shirt for long!
Somebody thought the ‘unit insignia’ appropriate, however, so I wonder if anyone knows exactly what it might be... I know a number of units wore identifying insignia, though there seems to be a paucity of reference on known examples.
A red background would seem to suggest an Infantry Regiment, albeit with extremely unusual, perhaps unlikely (though not impossible), use of Arabic numerals - assuming, of course, it is even Japanese!
I am confident that it was not sold to deceive, as this and a splendid pair of 1938 dated boots were listed with ridiculously cheap ‘buy-it-now’ prices, from a clearly non-militaria seller (I snapped both up within moments of the listings popping up)!
Interesting...
Many thanks for your speedy reply, Nick!
On the subject of things worn above the right pocket, what was the intended purpose of the single button sewn in that position, frequently encountered on tunics and shirts?
Routinely claimed to be for the rank insignia patches, I have yet to see a single image of one in such use, or any other. Where the rank patches can be seen, they tend to be suspended from the left pocket closure button, under the flap.
The fitting of the single button above the right pocket precedes the regulation shown above, as many early images can be found with these in place, so I wonder if there was an earlier, similar ordnance that failed to catch on (or was simply not employed under wartime security considerations).
Summer-weight shirt with peculiar insignia
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