Uniforms in the Family

It’s not too late to enter your ancestral bad hair photos in my blog contest. See details in last week’s post. I can’t wait until you see what folks sent in!

In the meantime, it’s time for another photo mystery. This one is a 20th century challenge.

Nancy Yates sent in a few pictures of her father, taken when he was about 15 years old, between 1930 to 1932. In the first one, he’s standing alone wearing a uniform with plain sleeves.

In the second he’s wearing a different uniform with hash marks on the sleeve indicating his rank of corporal. He’s standing with his sister.

The mystery is the uniform. It doesn’t look like a Boy Scout uniform. It’s too bad I can’t read the pin on his hat or the badge on his other sleeve.

Nancy knows her Dad once served in the Civilian Conservation Corp as an adult. Men had to be at least 17 years old to serve in the CCC.

So what uniform is it? I’m not sure. There were several groups for teens in the 1930s. The 4-H Club, the Future Farmers of America and the Junior Birdmen of America are a few prominent groups, but this uniform doesn’t represent any of those organizations. A great book on the period is William H. Young and Nancy K. Young’s The 1930s (Greenwood Press, $25.00).

One lead is a group sponsored by the American Legion. They formed the Air Cadets in 1933, to train young men as pilots in case of war.

Do you have any ideas? I’m still looking.