The rank of officers of the Marine Corps is indicated in three ways: first, by rank insignia worn upon the shoulder straps of the blue and white undress coats and summer and winter field coats; second, by rank insignia worn upon the tops of the epaulets and shoulder knots worn with special full dress, full dress and mess dress coats, and third, by the ornamentations worn upon the sleeves of the full dress coat, mess jacket and overcoat.
The insignia of rank, indicating the rank of the wearer, are practically the same as those for the corresponding ranks of the Army and Navy, and are as follows:
| Major General Commandant—two silver stars. | ||
| Brigadier General—one silver star. | ||
| Colonel—a silver spread eagle. | ||
| Lieutenant Colonel—a silver oak leaf. | ||
| Major—a gold oak leaf. | ||
| Captain—two silver bars. | ||
| First Lieutenant—one silver bar. | ||
| Second Lieutenant—one gold bar. | ||
| Marine Gunner and |  | no insignia of rank, the |
| Quartermaster Clerk | shoulder strap being plain. | |
The insignia of rank worn on the shoulder straps of the blue undress coat and the winter field coat are embroidered in silver thread, with the exception of the Major’s gold leaf which is embroidered in gold thread, and those worn on the white undress coat, summer field coat, white mess jacket and overcoat are of metal, silver for all except the major’s leaf and second lieutenant’s bar which are of gold.
The insignia of rank worn on the tops of the epaulets and shoulder knots are of the same size but are embroidered upon scarlet cloth to show one-sixteenth of an inch all around.
The sleeve ornamentations indicating the rank of officers of the Marine Corps are as shown in the illustrations. On the full dress coat and mess jacket for the Major General Commandant and the Brigadier Generals they are embroidered in gold upon cuffs of dark blue velvet and on the overcoat they are embroidered in thread of the same color as the overcoat. For Line officers below the rank of Brigadier General they are made of gold lace braid on a backing of scarlet cloth on the full dress coat and mess jacket while for officers of the Staff the scarlet cloth backing is omitted. On the overcoats for all officers below the rank of Brigadier General they are made of mohair braid of the same color as the overcoat.
U. S. Marine Corps. Officers’ insignia indicating rank
Shoulder straps of blue and white undress coats, summer
and winter field coats, white mess jacket and overcoat