Please note the following by the former Chief Historian, HQMC; see also The Marines, by BGen Edwin Simmons, etc.
"Ben Frank Reply-To : "Scuttlebutt & Small Chow USMC History List"
To : "Scuttlebutt & Small Chow USMC History List"
Subject : Re: NCO blood stripe
Date : Tue, 9 Nov 1999 20:52:14 -0500
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The statement that the red stripe on dress blue trousers was a "blood" stripe commemorating the Marines killed in the battle for Chapultepec in Mexico City in 1847 is a long-perpetuated myth passed on to generations of boots by their DIs.
It simply is not true. To quote LtCol Charlie Cureton in "The Marines," the wearing of stripes on trousers began in 1834, following the Army's practice of having trouser stripes the color of the facings of uniform jackets.
Colonel Commandant Archibald Henderson prescribed buff-white stripes for officers and sergeants. When, in 1839, the uniform changed to dark blue coats faced red, officers' trousers' stripes became dark blue edged in red.
Ten years later the stripes changed to red, and over the years, there were variations. Finally, in 1904, the simple red stripe was adopted. BMF
Benis M. Frank"