Historical Collection Highlights

This World War I service coat was worn by Sergeant First Class Shirley Day, a pioneer of Explosive Ordnance Disposal. He enlisted in 1917 and his peacetime occupation as an automobile mechanic made him an excellent candidate for the Ordnance Corps repairing and maintaining vehicles. During World War I, the Army utilized mobile repair shops for weapon and vehicle repair in the field. Sergeant Day later became an EOD technician and was attached to the 336th Infantry of the 84th Division. He was detailed to an ordnance warehouse on 18 October 1918 for special duty defusing live munitions rendering them inert. He was promoted to Sergeant First Class on 1 March 1919 and was honorably discharged on 12 August 1919. His uniform displays two collar discs: one for the US Army and the other a flaming bomb for the Ordnance Corps. On the left sleeve is a First Army should sleeve insignia with an embroidered red flaming bomb and artillery shell showing him as an EOD technician, a red discharge chevron, and two overseas chevrons signifying one year in an overseas theater. His right sleeve shows his rank as a Sergeant First Class of the Ordnance Corps and his decoration is a World War I Victory Medal. During Sergeant Day’s service, the Ordnance Corps modernized in terms of repair and handling the new explosives and had grown from 97 officers and 1,200 enlisted men to 6,000 officers and 62,000 enlisted men.