Obsolete badges of the United States military are a number of U.S. military insignia which were issued in the 20th and early 21st centuries. After World War II many badges were phased out of the United States armed forces in favor of more modern military badges which are used today.
A limited number of badges were also issued in the 19th century. The oldest military badge on record dates to the time of the American Revolutionary War. The following is a listing of obsolete U.S. military badges and the time period, or branch of service, to which such badges were specific.
A unique obsolete badge situation occurred with General of the Air Force Henry H. Arnold, who in 1913 was among the 24 Army pilots to receive the first Military Aviator badge, an eagle bearing Signal Corps flags suspended from a bar. Replaced in 1917 by the more conventional "wings" embroidered design (authorized as an oxidized silver badge in 1921), Arnold displayed both types on his uniform throughout his career. The original Military Aviator design can be seen in pictures of him in uniform.
Read more about Obsolete Badges Of The United States Military: Revolutionary War, 1913-1926, Army Air Forces, Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Navy, Joint Service
Famous quotes containing the words obsolete, badges, united, states and/or military:
“To use an obsolete Latin word, I might say, Ex Oriente lux; ex Oriente FRUX. From the East light; from the West fruit.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Whether our feet are compressed in iron shoes, our faces hidden with veils and masks; whether yoked with cows to draw the plow through its furrows, or classed with idiots, lunatics and criminals in the laws and constitutions of the State, the principle is the same; for the humiliations of the spirit are as real as the visible badges of servitude.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)
“In one notable instance, where the United States Army and a hundred years of persuasion failed, a highway has succeeded. The Seminole Indians surrendered to the Tamiami Trail. From the Everglades the remnants of this race emerged, soon after the trail was built, to set up their palm-thatched villages along the road and to hoist tribal flags as a lure to passing motorists.”
—For the State of Florida, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“A little group of willful men, representing no opinion but their own, have rendered the great government of the United States helpless and contemptible.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“War both needs and generates certain virtues; not the highest, but what may be called the preliminary virtues, as valour, veracity, the spirit of obedience, the habit of discipline. Any of these, and of others like them, when possessed by a nation, and no matter how generated, will give them a military advantage, and make them more likely to stay in the race of nations.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)