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Now Forming! the Campaign Hat Corps

Jedi5150

Familiar Face
Messages
58
Location
Central California
All of this campaign hat talk made me go look at the Stetson website. I got curious, since their campaign hats look well made, and I inquired if they offer them in a "long oval". They replied that none of their felt hats are available in long oval, only their hats made out of straw. Sort of a bummer, they looked a bit higher quality than my Stratton.
 
^^^teach me to work from memory. Lol
Sure can’t argue the Army wore the buckle in the back. Bet it felt great when you laid your head back. Idk

Well, no different really than with the two piece (worn with hat cords) where the buckle has to be in the back....and it is a larger buckle.......but then if you really want a nap...the hat come off, covers the face from the sun was we lay on the nice ?soft? grass......oh the days......;););)
M:):)
PS When the Army has allowed DS's to again wear the Campaign hat you will find they wear the single strap with the buckle in the back still. It actually goes back to the Trooper (including motorized too) days where extra length was left on the strap.....shorten it up for dismounted wear with the strap to the back of the head.......lengthen it up for mounted wear, with the strap under the chin!;)
 
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AbbaDatDeHat

I'll Lock Up
Messages
8,829
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Greetings All:
West Virginia State Troopers. Some of the snappiest dressed Troopers. They get the message across. Look like a bunch of Marines!!
 

rocketeer

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,605
Location
England
In Great Britain I have not seen this style hat used in a military or official capacity, only in older photo's of Boy Scouts.
It is sometimes referred to as a 'lemon squeezer' due to the similar shape of such a device.
 

David Conwill

Call Me a Cab
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2,854
Location
Bennington, VT 05201
In Great Britain I have not seen this style hat used in a military or official capacity, only in older photo's of Boy Scouts.
It is sometimes referred to as a 'lemon squeezer' due to the similar shape of such a device.

The Boy Scout thing comes out of the Boer War. Canadian cavalry there wore them (they brought them from Montana peak cowboy hats worn on the great plains and still worn by the RCMP) and they were seen by Baden-Powell while serving in that conflict. I'm less certain how New Zealanders came to wear them (they seem to have popularized the "lemon-squeezer" thing) but I expect it was from Kiwi troops serving in South Africa.

It's worth noting that the Canadians and, I think, the New Zealanders, wear their hats with a dent centered above the face, whereas Americans wear them with one of the pinches centered over the face.
 

rocketeer

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,605
Location
England
I had one some years back, that too was a Marine Corps issue. It came with a sort of clamp that looked like a toilet seat and kept the brim flat.
These were very popular around the release of the film Full Metal Jacket. The wartime re enacting thing was just really taking off and few enthusiasts pretending to imitate R. Lee Ermey.
 

Jedi5150

Familiar Face
Messages
58
Location
Central California
I recently watched "They were Expendable", one of my favorite John Wayne WWII movies, and I'd forgotten how many scenes there were of Marines wearing campaign hats in that movie. What I did find particularly interesting was the lack of forward rake. The movie was shot during WWII, and so I'm sure there were decent technical advisors (the main supporting character had himself been a PT boat skipper), so I would think fairly accurate in regard to uniforms. And not one of the Marines had his campaign hat raked forward. They all wore them like park rangers. I've seen the same thing in actual WWII photos, which leads me to believe that the forward rake is a comparatively recent development in the history of the campaign hat.
 

Orvil Newton

One of the Regulars
Messages
228
Location
cruisinglealea.com
I recently watched "They were Expendable", one of my favorite John Wayne WWII movies, and I'd forgotten how many scenes there were of Marines wearing campaign hats in that movie. What I did find particularly interesting was the lack of forward rake. The movie was shot during WWII, and so I'm sure there were decent technical advisors (the main supporting character had himself been a PT boat skipper), so I would think fairly accurate in regard to uniforms. And not one of the Marines had his campaign hat raked forward. They all wore them like park rangers. I've seen the same thing in actual WWII photos, which leads me to believe that the forward rake is a comparatively recent development in the history of the campaign hat.
I don't have a date for this photo, but it clearly pre-dates WWII. Notice the rake, and crease, of the two hats. There was lots of variety in how the hats were worn in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
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Jedi5150

Familiar Face
Messages
58
Location
Central California
Fellow on the right has the older 1889ish hat. He is also wearing the earlier pattern US mills belt and gear. It looks like a staged shot contrasting the old and new look of the Infantry.

Good call, that's exactly what it looks like. Interesting that the acorns predate the "non-acorn" hat. I didn't realize they'd been around for so long on the campaign hat.

And speaking of hats in movies (at least I was), the newer remake of the Humphry Bogart classic, "Sahara", with Jim Belushi, has one of the Australian characters wearing what I am 99% certain is an Akubra Slouch hat.

Sorry for the tiny size of these photos:
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And of course, "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell was famous for his Campaign Hat:
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