Dinner Mess Jacket Help

[swatmaster68]

Looking at this dinner mess jacket. As you can see, it's orange and black. The owner was in a TD unit. I'm not well versed in these jackets, but is this jacket specifically for TD Officers, or was this color scheme common for general use?

Thanks

[Michael Ryan]

[Hi, You have a nice early US Army Cavalry officer's mess dress jacket. What you describe as "orange", is actually yellow and is the Branch of Service (BOS) colour for the US Cavalry and Armour Branches. The cuff badge is the Cavalry BOS insignia, crossed cavalry sabres above a sleave band of yellow edged in gold (Cavalry). Surmounting the sabres is the ranking trefoil braid.

Hope this helps.

Regards and best wishes

Michael Ryan

[Rakkasan187]

Here is some information about the owner.

This information came from the 1971 Class of Graduates and former Cadets of West Point.

WEST POINT Class of 1919: Class registration number 6419
Major George Gordon Elms
Born: Pennsylvania 6 September 1897
Branch of Assignment: Cavalry
Commanding Officer 2nd Tank Destroyer Group (European Theater) 1943-1945
Decorations and Awards: Silver Star, Legion of Merit, 2 Bronze Star Medals
Post War Assignments: Commanding Officer, 5th Constabulary Regiment (1946-1947), Commanding Officer 2nd Constabulary Regiment, (1947-1948), Office of the Inspector General (1948-1949) Staff and Faculty (1949), Assistant Commandant 51 AGS (Army General School). Retired as a Colonel in 1954.

Last home of residence listed was in El Paso, Texas

A very interesting provenanced Mess Dress uniform.

Ironically, I live not too far from his home of residence in El Paso, Texas.

Smitty