Head Gear
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Officer's Service Cap Officer's Cap Insignia
Officer's Wool Service Cap with Officer's cap insignia

The service cap was worn by soldiers in a garrison environment, often with the leather and woven canvas garrison belts. The service caps saw very limited use in France by enlisted men. Officers also wore the service cap, but theirs was distinguished by a band of gold colored trim around the cap and the larger officer's insignia. The officers' cap was more commonly seen worn overseas, especially by senior, and high ranking officers such as General Pershing.

Enlisted Mens' Service Hat Enlisted Men's Cap Insignia
Enlisted Men's Wool Service Cap with enlisted men's cap insignia

The enlisted men's service cap was made from a rougher weave of wool and lacked the gold mohair band of the officer's cap. Note the enlisted men's cap insignia.

M1912 Campaign Hat Inside of Campaign Hat
M1912 service hat

Also known as the campaign hat, this size 7 Service Hat has a shoestring type chin strap rather than the leather chin strap found on later style hats. However this hat does have makeshift slits on each side for a leather chin strap. A colored hat cord denoting the soldier's branch of service (i.e.- Light blue for infantry, yellow for cavalry, red for artillery, black and gold for officers ) was worn on the hat. During World War I, the much loved campaign hats were replaced by the wool overseas cap. This was done because the campaign hats could not be stored easily when not worn.

Overseas cap
Overseas Caps

Wool overseas caps were worn by soldiers not at the front line in France. These hats replaced the campaign hats because they could be easily folded in half and stowed in a pocket or haversack. Many variations of the overseas cap exist including variations in cut and wool quality. The most common examples are shown. Some overseas caps were even manufactured by French and British tailors. Soldiers would often add insignia to the side of their caps. This would include US collar disks, branch of service disks, also officer's insignia such as crossed rifles.

British Mark 1 Helmet British Mark 1 Helmet Liner
World War I era British Mark I helmet

This helmet was one of many helmets purchased by U.S. Government agents for the first US troops of the AEF. Most British helmets had a sand finish to prevent light from reflecting on a smooth helmet. The British helmet can be distinguished from American made helmets by the presence of the rubber ring in the crown of the liner and the split rivets used to secure the chinstrap loops to the shell. The American manufactured version of this helmet is known as the M1917 steel helmet.

M1917 Steel Helmet M1917 Steel Helmet Liner
American manufactured M1917 steel helmet

The American helmet is nearly identical to the British Mark I helmet. The difference between the two helmets is the rivet holding the chinstrap loop to the helmet itself, the lack of the "doughnut" in the liner of the American helmet, and the properties of the steel used to manufacture the M1917 helmet shell. Also the M1917 helmet had a heavier sawdust texture than the British Mark I.

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