Parachute Riggers of the Airborne
Who in the US Army wears a red baseball cap?
The iconic red baseball cap was adopted by parachute riggers in the 11th Parachute Maintenance Company at Fort Campbell, KY in late 1949. This distinctive red Rigger cap was another innovation by Major Tom Cross, Parachute Officer of the 11th Airborne Division, who had also created the Parachute Rigger Badge in 1948.
The first parachute rigger badge was designed in 1948 by Major Thomas R. Cross and drawn by Sergeant First Class Ewing of the 11th Parachute Maintenance Company, 11th Airborne Division at Camp Schimmelpfenning, Sendai, Japan. Cross was the division parachute maintenance officer and Ewing worked in the parachute maintenance section. The first design effort consisted of a cloth badge, to be worn on the right sleeve of the field jacket, which depicted a full parachute canopy with a half wing extending from the right side. This design looked very similar to the Pathfinder badge so Major Cross suspended design efforts until the 11th Airborne Division moved from Japan to Camp Campbell, KY in 1949.
Major Cross wearing the Rigger Badge during Operation Swarmer, April 1950
At Camp Campbell, they designed another full-color cloth badge (shown above is the original badge from the collection of the Quartermaster Museum). This badge was designed to be worn on the field jacket and on the red baseball cap which was adopted by the 11th Parachute Maintenance Company in late 1949. The badge was first displayed during Exercise Swarmer at Camp Mackall, NC in April 1950.
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