early CAP uniform

[ArkAux]

As there has been a lot of discussion, though not lately, about when CAP started wearing military uniforms, I thought that I'd pass along a bit of information I came upon recently. 

In the March, 1979 issue of CAP News (P. 10-11), there was an article on the history of CAP uniforms which stated that the War Department authorized CAP to wear Army Air Forces uniforms with CAP modifications in July, 1942. 

If you'll recall, at that time we were still under the control of the Office of Civilian Defense and did not get transferred to the Army until April 29, 1943. 

Incidentally, there is a photo in Flying Minutemen of the first two Air Medals being awarded to CAP members by President Roosevelt.  The photo isn't dated, but one of the CAP members is in a CAP uniform (the other later joined the Navy and is in a Navy uniform).  Also in the photo is the head of the OCD.  According to CAP Historical Monograph #2 (Air Medals), this medal was awarded on Jan. 4, 1943 so we can assume that the medal was presented somewhere near that date.

So, this should lay rest to any doubts that CAP wore military uniforms before we were under military control. 

[mikeylikey]

^ Thank you!

I would like to point out that Civil Defense Volunteers were wearing uniforms as early as 1940.  You will find most civilian volunteer organizations (including the red cross) wearing a variant of the Army uniform before WWII.