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Cap Insignia
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National Park Service Uniforms Badges and Insignia 1894-1991 |
Number 1 |
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The soft, or "English" army officer, cap was authorized in 1928 for rangers assigned to motorcycle duties only, but there was no decoration applied to it until Office Order No. 204, revised, in 1932. This order specified that a "modified form of the National Park Service band" was to be worn with the cap. This consisted of a chin strap, with some of the same elements found on the hat band impressed on it. It also had USNPS tooled on the front center. It was held at the sides by two sterling silver Sequoia cones, like those used on the hatband.
Even though no ornament was specified for the front of the cap, photographs show several rangers sporting what looks like a large eagle on the front of their caps. There had been some discussion concerning this back in the late 1920s, when the cap was initially proposed, but the matter of the ornament had been dropped at that time. There is one photograph of a ranger wearing his ranger badge on the front of his cap.
The 1938 superintendents' conference had recommended an aluminum-colored pith helmet, with a large sterling silver Sequoia cone ornament. But when Office Order No. 350, revised, was issued on April 19, 1939, the color of the helmet was changed to forestry green and there was no mention of an ornament. This was cleared up in a memorandum from Acting Director Demaray on July 27, 1939. "It was found that aluminum colored helmets could not be purchased and no satisfactory sequoia cone has been devised for use on the helmet," he stated. "Consequently the color of the helmet was changed to forestry green and the cone ornament eliminated."
The 1940 uniform regulations changed the color of the helmet again. This time it was to be of a "sand tan color." And apparently, because of availability, the sterling silver Sequoia cone was reinstated, but this time it was to be the same size as those worn on the hatband. On September 18, 1953, the sun helmet was eliminated from the uniform regulations and the Sequoia cone reverted to being used solely on the standard hat and cap.
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1930-1981
1930-1981 Hat band, sterling | |
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1981-1984 Gold plated | |
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1984-present Solid brass | |
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In 1940 the ski cap was introduced. This was the first of a series of caps bearing an embroidered USNPS. The letters were to be gold and 3/4-inch high. In 1960 the women's "airline stewardess" hats had USNPS embroidered on them in 1/2-inch gold letters. The letters were either embroidered directly on the hat or on a piece of material matching the hat. The color of the letters on the ski cap, now called a service cap, was changed in 1964 to silver (white). These were now embroidered on a patch with a silver border. At the same time, the letters were eliminated on the women's hat and replaced with a 2-1/2-inch arrow head.
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1960-1964 3/4-inch letters embroidered in gold thread | |
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Before the adoption of the "stewardess" hat, since 1947, uniformed women employees had been wearing a uniform copied from the Army WACs, complete with overseas cap. One of the USNPS collar ornaments was attached to the left front of this cap.
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1960-1964
"Airline stewardess," Style 1 | |
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1960-1964
"Airline stewardess," Style 2 | |
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The arrowhead was officially removed from the women's hat in 1969 but was still worn until the uniform change of 1970. The small arrowhead patch replaced the USNPS patch on the men's service caps at that time. Since 1974, the arrowhead has seen service on many different types of hats, either as a patch or a decal. It was used on baseball caps, "Black Watch style" (ski) caps, and mouton-trimmed caps, to name a few. The soft cap worn by the motorcycle patrol rangers gave way to the safer hard helmets with the arrowhead decal on them.
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1964-1969 5/8-inch letters embroidered in white thread applied to front of cap | |
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1964-present
1964-1969 Women's hats | |
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Last Modified: Thurs, Jul 28 2000 07:08:48 am PDT
http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/workman1/vol1h.htm
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