Photographs of Coast Guard
Uniforms
1946-1975
*For women's uniforms during this period, please see the section on SPARs or click here.
Please click on the image to see full-size photograph
| Photographs | description |
|---|---|
| Coast Guard shield: officer |
|
| Coast Guard shield: enlisted |
| Seaman, dress blue, circa 1950 |
| Surfman: dress blue, circa 1960 |
| Khakis, circa mid-1950s |
| CPO, dress blue, late-1940's |
| Dress blues, 1959 |
| New white flat top hat; introduced 1 July 1967; first authorized for use by the Headquarters Honor Guard Details and by color guards in 1965.** |
| Undress white, 1957 |
| Dress blues, 1965; on the left is a member of the ceremonial honor guard with a new type of hat designed specifically for honor guard details & color guards; new uniform items for these units also included two shoulder patches as shown.** |
| Coast Guard Academy cadet |
| Coast Guard Honor Guard, 1965** |
 | This was a proposed new working uniform for enlisted personnel, circa 1965. It would have been worn while personnel (according to the photo's original caption): "are acting in an official capacity on boarding duty, such as members of a boarding team, or men on station entrance guard duty. The new uniform is not intended as a replacement for present uniforms. Modifications in the new navy blues include a cardigan type, tieless blouse, with a narrow rounded color [sic-collar] in place of the usual middy blouse, and a new stylized Coast Guard shield badge worn under the ribbons. Regular creased trousers would be worn instead of the usual bell bottoms. A white patent leather gun holster, and an all-blue hat with a new stylized shield pin, are other modifications." Photo No. CPI-11-08-65 (01); dated 8 November 1965; photographer not listed. |
 | aAnother view of the 1965 proposed uniform. Photo No. CPI-11-08-65 (02); dated 8 November 1965; photographer not listed. |
| Khakis & dress blue, 1965 |
| LORAN station crew: dungarees & khakis, circa 1970 |
**The new items for the ceremonial honor guard details' and color guards' uniforms were first worn in President L. B. Johnson's Inaugural Day Parade on 20 January 1965. The new uniform items were first authorized "for the enlisted detail at [the] World's Fair, other Honor Guard Details, and by color guards." The hat was later adopted for general use in 1967. Also in 1965 a shoulder cord, white for blue uniform and blue for white uniform, was authorized for "honor guards only, these being units of platoon size at Headquarters, Washington Radio Station, Cape May and Alameda Recruiting Centers, and the Reserve Training Center at Yorktown, VA. The color guards, consisting of four men on ships over 200 ft. long and at shore stations of over 40 men and at district offices, will wear the same uniform except for the shoulder cord."
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