WWI M1917 “Rough Cut” Service Coat; Remount Sergeant, 3d Cavalry Regiment 1918

Description

WWI M1917 “Rough Cut” Service Coat; Remount Sergeant Troop K, 3d Cavalry Regiment 1918
This tunic was issued to 2d Lieutenant John T Carmody while he was a Remount Sergeant with the 3d Regiment, U.S. Cavalry Corps at St. Nazaire, France.
This is extremely rare as they were all supposed to have been burned before returning to the US after occupation in 1919.
This grouping includes:
• M1917 “Rough Cut” Service Coat
• M1910 Type I Collar Disk, Screw Back; “US”
• M1910 Type I Collar Disk, Screw Back; “K Tr, 3d Cav Regt”
• Ribbon Bar, “Pin Back”, Span Am War Congressional Ribbon, Philippines Ribbon, WWI Ribbon w/ 5 Stars
• M1912 Mounted Pistol Belt
• M1911 Ammo Pouch
*******THIS Grouping DOES NOT INCLUDE:
Sword Hangers, Holster, M1910 Campaign Hat, or Cavalry Campaign cord.******
********Read Rough Coat coat description below
********Note: This description of the M1917 “Rough Cut”, or “Blanket Cut” service coat was written by World War I Nerd from USmilitariaform in 2016.
1917 “Rough Cut” Service Coat
No known specification number
Its estimated time of adoption was the summer of 1917
This pattern of coat appears to have been in service on a limited scale until the end of the war
No Quartermaster specifications for the so called 1917 “Rough Cut” Service Coat have been located. However, a number of examples have been found with contract labels that have no specification numbers, two labels however, have surfaced bearing very curios specification numbers. They were:
Specification No. 1160 for the second pattern 1911 Service Coat
Specification No. 1176 for the 1913 pattern enlisted men’s Overcoat
The earliest known contract for the Rough Cut coat was dated July 19, 1917 (Frankel Bros.) and the latest was dated February 8, 1918 (Nathan A. Fischer Co.). Those dates give us an approximate time frame in which the Rough Cut service coat may have been fabricated … give or take a month or two. It does not however, explain the use of specification numbers that had been assigned to an obsolete service coat and to the pattern of enlisted men’s overcoat that was issued at the time when America declared war … but more about that later.
Although there is no proof available, evidence suggests that the 1917 Rough Cut Service Coat may have been the result of an undocumented emergency measure that was enacted sometime during the summer of 1917, when military clothing of all types was scarce.
Based on the available circumstantial evidence (which isn’t very much), I’ve come to the conclusion that because the Army urgently needed service coats, the Quartermaster Corps authorized the manufacturer’s who were initially contracted to make overcoats to temporarily produce service coats instead.
Regardless of the when and why, Quartermaster clothing inspectors certainly allowed the Rough Cut coats to pass inspection despite their many irregularities!
1. The fact that all of the Rough Cut coats were produced from a very heavy weight of woolen fabric that was at least equal to the 30 ounce to the yard olive drab melton wool that was called for in the 1913 dated Overcoat Specification No. 1176.
2. Coincidentally Specification No. 1176 just so happened to appear on one of the Rough Cut coat’s contract labels.
3. A number of contract labels found on the Rough Cut coat names Frankel Bros. as the contractor. I suspect that Frankel Bros. were originally contracted to fabricate overcoats.
4. All of the coats were unlined; they were likely made that way because the weight of the woolen fabric was already of sufficient warmth.
5. All of the seams were not turned under and sewn as required by all previous service coat specifications. This was likely because the weight of the wool prevented the material from being turned under or because it was determined, if they were turned under, that the finished product appeared too bulky or clumsy. Therefore, that specification was likely waived.
Construction-wise their external appearance is similar to other more conventional 1917 Service Coats. It is only the presence of the raw unfinished hems and their bulky nature that identifies them as being “Rough Cut”.
The basic characteristics of the Rough Cut Service Coat, which was also sometimes referred to as “Blanket Cut”, because it was fabricated from such a heavy weight of woolen material are:
•The unusually heavy weight of the woolen material.
•The coat was unlined.
•Every seam except that of the collar and cuffs was not turned under before sewing, which gave the unfinished edges of the coat a ragged and slightly frayed appearance.
•Many examples have an unusually thick welt or seam where the sleeve joins the body of the coat.
•Many examples have much rounder lower pocket bottoms, which were also often found on the 1917 pattern overcoat with a shawl collar.