Armband and sleeve insignia with star on it

[jagjetta]

Greetings,

Attached are some photos of an image that I cannot identify. Perhaps a forum member can identify what insignia is being worn and help me understand what branch of service is represented?

A period ink inscription on the back reads, "The equipe at Dole du Jura: Photo taken January 20, 1918."

Thank you,

John

[jagjetta]

Detail of insignia:

Another detail

another detail

detail

[auchonvillerssomme]

The American Friends Service Committee (Friends Ambulance Unit) had a star insignia during WW2 but I haven't seen earlier pictures.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

As Auchonvillerssomme suggested, these men are probably members of The American Friends Service Committee, so they are not military, they are in fact pacifists. The (AFSC) is a Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) affiliated organization which works for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world. AFSC was founded in 1917 as a combined effort by American members of the Religious Society of Friends to assist civilian victims of World War I.

Quakers traditionally oppose violence in all of its forms and therefore many refuse to serve in the military, including when drafted, AFSC's original mission grew from the need to provide conscientious objectors (COs) with a constructive alternative to military service.

In April 1917 — days after the United States joined World War I by declaring war on Germany and its allies — a group of Quakers met in Philadelphia to discuss the pending military draft and how it would affect members of peace churches such as Quakers, Mennonites, Brethren, and the Amish. They developed ideas for alternative service that could be done directly in the battle zones of northern France.

They also developed plans for dealing with the United States Army, since it had been inconsistent in its dealing with religious objectors to previous wars. Although legally members of pacifist churches were exempt from the draft, individual state draft boards interpreted the law in a variety of ways. Many Quakers and other COs were ordered to report to army camps for military service. Some COs, unaware of the significance of reporting for duty, found that this was interpreted by the military as willingness to fight. One of AFSC's first tasks was to identify CO's, find the camps where they were located, and then visit them to provide spiritual guidance and moral support. In areas where the pacifist churches were more well known (such as Pennsylvania), a number of draft boards were willing to assign COs to AFSC for alternative service.

In addition to conducting alternative service programs for COs, AFSC collected relief in the form of food, clothing, and other supplies for displaced persons in France. Quakers were asked to collect old and make new clothing; to grow fruits and vegetables, can them, and send them to AFSC headquarters in Philadelphia. AFSC then shipped the materials to France for distribution. The young men and women sent to work in France, working with British Quakers, provided relief and medical care to refugees, repaired and rebuilt homes, helped farmers replant fields damaged by the war, and founded a maternity hospital.

After the end of the war in 1918, AFSCs began working in Russia, Serbia, and Poland with orphans and with the victims of famine and disease, and in Germany and Austria, where they set up kitchens to feed hungry children. Eventually AFSC was chartered by President Herbert Hoover to provide the United States sponsored relief to Germans.

The AFSC badge.

[jagjetta]

Thank you VERY much. Yes,these men appear to be AFSC workers. Thank you,

John

[Magnumbellum]

In confirming the analysis, I would add a few further remarks:

The status of the group as a non-military organisation accounts for some discrepancies in the style of uniforms (including caps). The uniforms would have been bought from military suppliers, but discrepancies in style would have been regarded unimportant. There would have been no hierarchy of ranks.

The precise British equivalent of the American Friends Service Committee was the Friends Service Council, and both were formally within the structure of the Religious Society of Friends within their respective countries. Although the work of the (British) Friends Ambulance Unit (FAU), was analogous to that of the AFSC units, the FAU was never a formal part of the SofF structure.

The AFSC and the Friends Service Council were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947.

The work of the (British) Friends Service Council is now subsumed within the Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW) department of the Society of Friends.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

In confirming the analysis, I would add a few further remarks:

The status of the group as a non-military organisation accounts for some discrepancies in the style of uniforms (including caps). The uniforms would have been bought from military suppliers, but discrepancies in style would have been regarded unimportant. There would have been no hierarchy of ranks.

The precise British equivalent of the American Friends Service Committee was the Friends Service Council, and both were formally within the structure of the Religious Society of Friends within their respective countries. Although the work of the (British) Friends Ambulance Unit (FAU), was analogous to that of the AFSC units, the FAU was never a formal part of the SofF structure.

The AFSC and the Friends Service Council were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947.

The work of the (British) Friends Service Council is now subsumed within the Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW) department of the Society of Friends.

Despite their being pacifists and often COs, do you think there was a requirement to wear military style uniforms, firstly to show they were on the Allies' side, and secondly, to prevent them being accused of spying, if found in civilian clothing ?

[Magnumbellum]

I doubt whether there was any formal or legal requirement to wear military-style uniforms; I doubt also whether suspicion of of spying was a serious issue. My impression is that the volunteers wished to demonstrate commitment as a self-organised body, and to be easily identifiable as such. Since both the AFSC and the FAU (who also wore military-style uniforms) operated mainly well behind the lines, in casualty stations, field hospitals, and hospital trains, the need specifically to identify with the Allies would not have been a major concern.

One aspect of the work at times was treating and caring for civilian wounded and refugees from battle zones. Cedric Vipont Brown, the son of doctor, and later a doctor himself, wrote an account of such work with the FAU. His brother, Ralph Vipont Brown, also worked in the FAU and then for the Friends' War Victims Relief Committee. Having volunteered to stay on after the Armistice, he succumbed to the influenza epidemic, and is buried in France in a CWGC grave.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

I doubt whether there was any formal or legal requirement to wear military-style uniforms; I doubt also whether suspicion of of spying was a serious issue. My impression is that the volunteers wished to demonstrate commitment as a self-organised body, and to be easily identifiable as such. Since both the AFSC and the FAU (who also wore military-style uniforms) operated mainly well behind the lines, in casualty stations, field hospitals, and hospital trains, the need specifically to identify with the Allies would not have been a major concern.

One aspect of the work at times was treating and caring for civilian wounded and refugees from battle zones. Cedric Vipont Brown, the son of doctor, and later a doctor himself, wrote an account of such work with the FAU. His brother, Ralph Vipont Brown, also worked in the FAU and then for the Friends' War Victims Relief Committee. Having volunteered to stay on after the Armistice, he succumbed to the influenza epidemic, and is buried in France in a CWGC grave.

Many thanks,

Leo