| An unidentified veteran United States Army Corporal wearing tropical service dress. While his "US" collar disk is visible his branch of service disk is in shadow so it is uncertain if he was an infantryman, artilleryman or a member of another branch of the army. He wears a doubled bar marksman badge as well as a campaign medal ribbon. This ribbon appears to that of the 1898 Spanish Campaign Medal Type 2 which had two dark blue stripes on a yellow background. He wears a late issue version of the U.S. tropical service helmet which was always very unpopular with U.S. troops. The earliest versions were first issued in the 1880's and they remained in use up until around the beginning of World War One. It could be due to this unpopularity that few people today even know that these helmets were in fact issued to U.S. troops at all let alone for over 30 years. In addition to this NCO's uniform, the building and cactus plant indicate a tropical local which unfortunately like his name will probably remain unknown. Real Photo Post Card Unknown Photographer Unknown Location c. 1910 |
