US Wartime Insignia Reference Book

[DJT]

I picked this up yesterday for nothing. Its a WW2 US pocket reference book for Army, Navy and Marine Corps Insignia. All in Colour, very nicely done actually. I`ve never seen anything like this before and was just wondering if they were a common item?

Regards,

Des

[Matthew T S]

I have seen these before, they aren't too terribly common but aren't very rare either. It's great referance material though. I wonder why divisional nicknames aren't listed as well.

[Newlyn]

National Geographic did a similar, but much more comprehensive 'Special Edition'. Has lots of great illustrations of Squadron patches, medals, wings etc. Well worth getting hold of for the Naval Squadrons alone.

[McCulloh]

Histara? Jeff Floyd?? Any comments here?

[JBFloyd]

This particular pamphlet is probably the most common of its kind, but there are numerous types of these around.

I've got examples that just cover Navy insignia (medals and squadron patches, ratings, etc) and some cover all services. Some include ship and aircraft types. These were publishers' dreams - simple publications with a guaranteed audience. And they are usually very accurate. The publishers and distributors (often uniform and insignia stores) used them as give-away advertising and some were sold to families.

I see them usually in the ephemera files of booksellers these days ($1-10, depending on the whim of the seller). Overall, good little "go with" items for insignia and medal collectors.