guntoast Posted 5 March , 2019 Share Posted 5 March , 2019 Hello everyone! This is my first post on the forum. I recently received a large box of some of my great grandfather's things. Included is quite a lot of military items. He served during the Spanish American War and later was a Master Electrician (Master Sergeant) serving with the U.S. Air Service in France during WWI. He retired from the Army in 1921. I've been slowly going through a lot of the things to see what all is in there. I'm retired USAF and a huge history geek so I love it. Some things are easy to identify and some are not. I found these U.S. collar insignia today with "TH" on them. They are not a matching pair. I spent some time searching today and could not figure out what "TH" is or means, so I thought I would hop on here and actually post for once, and see if ay of the experts know. I'm sure someone will know right away and I'm going to facepalm myself, but that's ok. Thanks for the help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4thGordons Posted 6 March , 2019 Share Posted 6 March , 2019 Welcome to the forum! Hmmm -- this has got me scratching my head -- and I too am sure it is going to be a DOH! moment when someone answers! TH is not listed in the approved list of US abbreviations for use on discharge papers (SEE HERE) which is a bit odd. in the context of AEF units T is often used for TRAIN (as in Sanitary Train or Ammunition Train) but on officers' pins it usually indicates where the wearer "came from" I am familiar with US NA - National Army (ie drafted) US NG - National Guard US V - Volunteer US R - Reserve but TH......? shuffles shamefacedly off stage left....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guntoast Posted 6 March , 2019 Author Share Posted 6 March , 2019 (edited) Thanks so much! Exactly! I've seen the approved list so many times, and have examples of pretty much all of the approved abbreviations, when I pulled these out of the box it hit me like a brick wall. my brain turned into spaghetti for a minute. I've been racking my brain to think of anything it could be. Did officers ever have their state abbreviations attached to their U.S. insignia similar to the enlisted National Guard collar disks with the state's abbreviation on them? The only thought I had was possibly "Territory of Hawaii"? It's a stretch, but Hawaii wasn't a state yet. And I do know that regulations were somewhat relaxed/ignored at times, and some soldiers DID push those limits with uniforms and insignia. However, I also thought, well if that was the case why wouldn't they have done "H.T." for Hawaiian Territory? On the other hand I could just be flat out wrong, and it’s not WWI. But it sure looks like it... Yeah, I don't know haha. Thanks for the help! I appreciate your response. Edited 6 March , 2019 by guntoast Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSMMo Posted 7 March , 2019 Share Posted 7 March , 2019 TH would have been correct if it is Territory of Hawaii. My grandfather's uncle was well established in Honolulu by the early 1900's so it is not beyond possibility (and my grandfather followed him from Scotland in 1920!). I would imagine he would have had to have been assigned to a Hawaiian unit (after the war?) and I have not heard of Hawaiian units going to Europe in WWI, but that's just me. Time to research Hawaii records! Good Luck! Mike Morrison Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragoon Posted 8 March , 2019 Share Posted 8 March , 2019 Hello He retired from the Army in 1921, so badges may have been from his posting after the war? Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guntoast Posted 8 March , 2019 Author Share Posted 8 March , 2019 Thanks for the help guys! It's definitely a possibility. I don't have much info on my family as it seems people die young. He died in 1935, and most of his stuff just passed from family member to family member until it plopped down in my lap along with my grandfather's things. I know he spent time in the Philippines, so it's not a stretch that he could have also spent time in Hawaii. No one in my family that was actually alive at the time or knew him has been living during my lifetime, so I've had no one to ask or get any type of solid information from. Just bits and pieces here and there. Also, I've found an astounding amount of military items in the form of an entire box of badges and insignia. So it seems he was also a collector and probably traded with others during his career. It's all Span Am thru WWI, but there's a lot. So I'm realizing it might not have even been his. Time to do some deep digging me thinks. Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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