Hi!

I have a question about a uniform that I've bought recently.
It's a coat with signal corps badges and an AAF shoulder patch. I would like to know a bit more about signal corps units that were attached to the AAF and I would also like to know who the original owner was. I've done all the research I could and now I'm lost. I hope that someone here can help me with some info.

See pics for details:

Pic 1
Pic 2
Pic 3
Pic 4

According to the ribbons in one of the pictures, this person did NOT serve overseas, but was stateside.  The ribbons appear to be (top row) WWII Victory Medal, (bottom row, left to right) American Defense Ribbon, Good Conduct Medal, and American Campaign Ribbon.

And if you haven't already, you should read chapter 12 of Volume VII of the series, "The Army Air Forces in World War II," which can be accessed here on the Army Airways Communication Serice:
http://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/VII/AAF-VII-12.html
My guess is that your missing person may have participated in that.

Kevin Anderson

Thanks for the quick response.
The uniform has also two overseas bars on the sleave, meaning 12 months overseas (not showing on the pictures).
Wikipedia says the following about the american campaign medal:

To be awarded the American Campaign Medal, a service member was required to either perform one year of consecutive duty within the continental borders of the United States, or perform 30 days consecutive/60 non-consecutive days of duty outside the borders of the United States but within the American Theater of Operations. The American Theater was defined as the entirety of the United States to include most of the Atlantic Ocean, a portion of Alaska, and a small portion of the Pacific bordering California and Baja California.

so, how do these two things add up??
(I'm even more lost now, but thanks anyway)

Twelve months overseas still works out for the American Campaign:  Newfoundland, Greenland, or Iceland in the Atlantic, or Alaska.  Again, I suspect this person was either assigned to the AACS or the AAF weather service.  Read the chapter I directed you to, or Chapter 11 in the same volume on the AAF Weather Service:
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/VII/AAF-VII-11.html

Kevin Anderson

Thanks Kevin,

You might be right. I found this picture showing the rank and unit isignia from someone who was in the AACS in panama. So the patches are pretty much the same except that it's another region. At least I have a lead for my research now.


[image]local://16157/492E9773CF5043EF894D01F7E193C87F.jpg[/image]

Attached Image(s)

This person would definitely not have been in AACS or AWS.  AACS and AWS were AAF units and personnel assigned to AACS or AWS were in the Air Corps.  Not only the crossed flags branch insigne, but the orange piping on the overseas cap shows that the person who wore this uniform was in the Signal Corps, not the Air Corps.
 
During WW II, there were thousands of people in the Signal Corps assigned to AAF headquarters.  Typical units included:
 
Signal Company, Service Group (at base level)
Signal Company, Wing ,Air Wing or ,Troop Carrier Wing (at wing level)
Signal Company, Aviation  (at command or air force level)
Signal Depot Company, Aviation (at AAF depots)
 
And radar units:
Signal Aircraft Warning Battalion and Company
 
And intelligence units:
Signal Radio Intercept Company,Aviation (these transferred branches during the war and became Radio Squadrons, Mobile)
 
And specialized units:
Signal Construction Battalion, Aviation
Signal Battalion, Separate, Tactical Air Force
Signal Service Battalion and Company, Aviation
 
As well as a number of unusual units, even including a handful of Signal Pigeon Companies, Aviation.

Bernie Shearon
Push the stick forward, the houses get bigger. Pull the stick back, the houses get smaller (unless you keep pulling -- then they get bigger again)

Hi Bernie,

Your info makes it a bit more complicated...  Is there any way in wich I can determine what unit he was in. I have a lot of options now. So he must have been a communications specialist. He's done one year overseas but within the American Theater of Operations. And according to you he wasn't in the AACS. What would have been the most likely unit then?

There is little to narrow it down.  The generic AAF patch combined with the overseas bars and only an American Theater Ribbon might indicate service in Canada, Greenland, or Iceland.  There were Signal Aircraft Warning units in Iceland, but I'm sure there were other units that meet the critereia as well.

Bernie Shearon
Push the stick forward, the houses get bigger. Pull the stick back, the houses get smaller (unless you keep pulling -- then they get bigger again)