Cultural and Historical Influences on the Uniforms and Devices of the Service

By

CAPT Steven Hirschfeld, MD PhD

LCDR Danny Benbassat, PhD

June 2019

Cultural and Historical Influences

Table of Contents Of Symbols and Snakes ...... 3 The Fouled Anchor ...... 5 A General Cultural Paradigm ...... 5 U.S. Government : A Brief Overview ...... 6 Forged by Fire ...... 6 Reorganization and Expansion ...... 8 New Leadership and Symbols ...... 9 New Frontiers...... 10 Of Uniforms in General ...... 13 Eighteenth & Nineteenth Century Maritime Uniform History ...... 14 First U.S. Navy Uniform Regulations ...... 15 Twentieth Century ...... 19 World War II Era ...... 21 Twenty-First Century ...... 23 Closing Comment ...... 23 References ...... 26

Table of Figures

Figure 1. Examples of the Caduceus of Mercury and Rod of Asclepius ...... 4 Figure 2. United States Public Health Service 1914 Insignia and Ratings ...... 14 Figure 3. Drivers of U.S. Maritime Uniform Styles and Functions ...... 15 Figure 4. Service suite-undress uniforms c. 1900 ...... 18

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Of Symbols and Snakes

It is possible that our story begins more than 5,000 thousand years ago in the mountains and forests of the Eastern Mediterranean and the lands that lay to the East. People had experiences they could not predict, control or understand, so they attributed their experiences to powerful, but emotional, pagan gods that lived in the forests, mountains, waters, and the sky. Every observable phenomenon and every sensation had a god behind it. There were even gods, and messengers to gods, specifically dedicated to travel and commerce.

The stories of these gods, their personalities, and roles, were distributed by sea faring merchants. Symbolism, in an era with a limited number of literate people, was critical to impart meaning. For example, the concept of snake, with its flexible body, was used in several ways. The snake represented evil power and chaos in some contexts but also renewal (through the shedding of its skin), healing, and fertility in other contexts.

A Sumerian god named Ningishzida, who was worshipped around 5,000 years ago and was associated with vegetation and the underworld, had the symbol of a staff with two snakes intertwined around it. Hermes, the Greek messenger between the gods and humans, carried a winged staff with two snakes that represented harmony and travel. Interwoven snakes, with or without a winged staff, indicated merchants and commerce in many cultures. Commerce is, in principle, a peaceful endeavor, so messengers bearing the snakes were interpreted as coming in peace. The double intertwined snakes on a staff with wings became known as the Caduceus. The Roman name for Hermes is Mercury and the caduceus is commonly referred to as the Caduceus of Mercury.

A single snake combined with a single rod was used to indicate the interchangeability between stiff and flexible states for illness and healing. Here is an example from the book of Numbers, Chapter 21:

6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many people of Israel died. 7 And the people came to Moses, and said: “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD, and against you; pray unto the LORD, that the LORD takes away the serpents from us.” And Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the LORD said unto Moses: “Make a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he views it, shall live.” 9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it upon the pole; and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked unto the serpent of brass, he lived.

Page 3 of 31 Cultural and Historical Influences

The single rod and snake are also associ