What’s this uniform?

[jmanic]

So this was passed along to me-
Belonged to a great-great uncle (if there is such a thing) I never met.

Little is known about his service, but WWI or II.
I can figure out he was a DAV from Hartford, but what’s the uniform?
Any details you can fill in are appreciated.

paging @Carson and @KenS

 

[RobW]

Very cool, looks like merchant marines

 

[Dajerseyrat]

Looks like a state police belt...

 

[walter]

Connecticut State Police perhaps?

 

[Patrick]

Dress uniform for attending events as a retired/disabled vet. ?

got a feeling @KenS is going to know fur shore.

 

[jmanic]

Yup, the belt and stripes had me thinking state police as well.

 

[Dajerseyrat]

Each hash on the sleeve represents 5 years of service. That guy served 20 years.

 

[Rusty]

found the patch

https://www.militaryuniformsupply.com/26th-infantry-division-multicam-ocp-patch

 

[Juggernaut]

^ Well, that ties the patch to the buttons with the crossed rifles.

 

[Juggernaut]

So I’m guessing some regiment out of Connecticut. The Disabled Army Veterans hat obviously came later.

 

[jklett]

26th infantry Yankee division but the colors don't make sense unless it's a VFW uniform.

 

[UtahJoe]

The insignia on the button is Army, 3 bars is sergeant, the yd on the arm is the insignia for the 26th infantry division "Yankee division"

I would have to too look up the two of the bars, but the one looks identical to my grandfather's Purple Heart bar... The one to the right with the star clusters... my grandfather has a similar one to denotes that he fought in the battle of the Ardennes.. Battle of the buldge... So I think it tells what battle or conflict they were at... European theater of war... Something like that

Dav... Disabled American vets

No idea what the conn or the other letters are... My grandfather was a combat medic so he had the medical pin on one side and us on the other.... Maybe this is a conn army national guard uniform...

I found a website years ago that I will have to look up again that was populated by people who collected this type of stuff and they knew absolutely everything

 

[Juggernaut]

The material seems too refined to be WWI.

 

[UtahJoe]

The material seems too refined to be WWI.

Ya im thinking this is something a vet would wear to maybe a vfw function? But I admittedly have no idea...

@jmanic using my grandfather's name I did some Googling and eventually found his units after action report... Which was sort of like the commanding officers daily blog of what was going on in the unit on a day to day basis while they were in Europe... Was really interesting... might not tell you exactly what this uniform was used for but you might be able to find some of his military records... What unit he was in, where he was, what he was doing, etc...

 

[jklett]

The first ribbon looks like a Vermont national guard commendation ribbon, the middle is a purple heart, and the last one looks like WW1 victory medal. I don't have first hand knowledge of this stuff, I'm just very interested in history.

 

[jmanic]

The material seems too refined to be WWI.

Definitely, was trying to pin down possible service dates.

 

[Carson]

Late to the party.

Yes, it's a Sam Browne belt but that's really common over a blouse and cross strap. It is not a LEO uniform.

I think the crowd is zeroing in on it...VFW formal uniform for parades, Veteran's Day, Memorial Day, etc. They usually have Post numbers or state insignia like the CONN lapel brass. I am sure the local VFW or Army-Navy store can fill in the details.

That should be placed behind UV-resistant glass and framed. If it's wool, a fitted blouse is about $600 today. It's really awesome!

 

[UtahJoe]

@jmanic now at my computer where I can see the ribbons a little better...This is a WWI uniform, not WWII...you can tell by the ribbons...Might not be FROM the wwi time period, but the person wearing it served in from ~1916-1918

The yellow and 2 greens to the left is the mexican border service medals....So that means your great great uncle was in the Army ~1916...When we were pretty much at war with Mexico and trying to kill Pancho Villa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Border_Service_Medal

The middle l thought was a purple heart ribbon, but usually they are solid purple, so im not 100% on that

But the one on the right is the WWI victory medal ribbon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_Victory_Medal_(United_States)

So he should have had a medal that went with this....on the medal it might have had the "clasps" that would say what the stars meant....Like service in Europe, or a certain battle, etc.

 

[UtahJoe]

Also....I would venture a guess...since he was in the 26th I.D., from Connecticut...He was probably in the 102nd infantry regiment which was part on the 26th ID during WWI

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/102nd_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States)

 

[KenS]

Not much more to add, @UtahJoe and @Carson nailed it. The purple ribbon is a faded Army Good Conduct medal. I would contact the DAV chapter where he was a member to find more information on his service and maybe get some guidance on a fitting display for his uniform. The victory medal with 5 stars likely has a lot of history attached to it.

Here is the chapter information from their web page:

Chapter 12 - Unknown Soldier

Commander: Donald Butler

Phone: 860-202-6818

Meeting Day: 3rd Sunday 1:30PM

Location: Goodwin College One Riverside Drive East Hartford CT 06118

Contact Person: Bernard Corona

Phone: 860-568-3103

Mailing Address: Bernard Corona 27 Winding Lane East Hartford CT 06118