Red Cross Brassard (armband)
The Geneva Convention entered into law the moral obligation that medical personnel should not be targeted in war. As they are providing aid to the dying and wounded, they should be treated as non-combatants. Because these men and women often found themselves at the front and in harms way, it was necessary for them to be easily recognizable to hostile forces. The white brassard with the sign of the Red Cross became a universally recognized symbol. The brassard has seen many variations throughout history. During the Great War, the United States began issuing a uniform brassard. It is distinct from its WW2 counterpart in two significant ways. The most obvious of these is its size. The red cross itself is the same size, but the Great War era brassard is only 3 inches wide as opposed to 5. Because of this, the red cross will extend to the top and bottom of the brassard. This is not so with later brassards. The second distinction is the serial number located on the obverse of the band below the red cross. This is a simple black stencil that was placed on each brassard in sequential order as issued. Examples of such serial numbers from the Great War have been seen as low as the 20,000's and as high as the 400,000's. The serial number was most certainly used to identify which soldiers were authorized to wear the brassard. Later brassards during the 1930's and during WW2 would place serial numbers on the reverse of the brassard, along with a stamp of the Geneva Convention. Pictured below are multiple period issued brassards as well as original period photos depicting soldiers wearing them.
The brassard pictured to the right was worn by Sgt. 1st Class Rudolf Lundgren, 1515185, of the Medical Detachment of the 134th Machine Gun Battalion in the 37th Division. He joined the Ohio National Guard on July 1, 1915 as a member of the 3rd Field Hospital. He continued to serve when it was incorporated in the A.E.F. He served in France from June 15, 1918 until July 6, 1919. He participated in the Meuse-Argonne, Ypres-Lys and Defensive Sector.
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This brassard was
purchased directly from Lundgren's nephew. |
The brassard pictured to the right was worn by an unknown American medic during the Great War. The serial number stenciled on the brassard is 332075.
The band appears to have been washed which has caused the ink of the serial number to fade a bit and the red cross felt has bled into the nearby white linen. |