| 1. Major (Gold leaf) | 2. Captain |
| 3. First Lieutenant (Silver bar), | 4. Warrant officer |
| Second Lieutenant (Gold bar) |
U. S. Marine Corps. Officers’ decorations on sleeves indicating rank. In gold braid and embroidery on sleeves of full dress coat and blue mess jacket. In forestry-green braid and embroidery on sleeves of overcoat.
| 1. Major General Commandant |
| 2. Brigadier General |
| 3. Colonel |
| 4. Lieutenant Colonel |
It may be noted that the design of the sleeve ornaments for Field officers (Colonels, Lieutenant Colonels and Majors) is in the form of a chevron, while that for company officers (Captains, and First and Second Lieutenants) is a knot known to seamen as a “carrick bend,” to artillerymen as a “prolong knot”; and to the civilian as the “True love knot” representing faithfulness on account of the fact that it does not readily slip or pull apart. It was on this account that this particular form of knot was first used as a military emblem to denote faithfulness or loyalty.
The fact that an officer belongs to the Marine Corps is shown by the Marine Corps device or insignia worn upon the front of all caps and field hats, upon the right side of the chapeau, on the top of epaulets and shoulder knots, and upon the collars of the blue and white undress coats, summer and winter field coats and mess jackets.
The Marine Corps device for full dress and undress caps is a fretted silver Western Hemisphere with chased parallels and the continents of North and South America in gold, resting upon a foul anchor in gold, and surmounted by a spread eagle of silver. The shank of the anchor is set at an angle of thirty degrees from the horizontal. The dimensions are, diameter of hemisphere seven-eighths of an inch, height of eagle one-half of an inch, length of anchor one and three-quarter inches. The Corps device worn on epaulets and shoulder knots is of the same size and design but is made entirely of silver. The Marine Corps devices worn on the field hat and on the summer field and winter field caps are of the same design and size as those worn on the undress caps but are made entirely of bronze metal.
The Corps devices worn on the collars of the blue undress coat, white undress coat and white mess jacket are of silver and gold and of the same design as those worn on caps but of only three-fourths the size. Those worn on the collars of the summer field and winter field coats are of the same design and size as those worn on the undress coats but are made entirely of dull finish bronze metal.
The aides-de-camp on the personal staff of a General officer wear a distinctive device consisting of a shield of the United States three-quarters of an inch high surmounted by an eagle one-half of an inch high. This device is worn in the center of the sleeve ornament of the full dress coat and mess jacket and on the collars of the undress and field coats and white mess jackets in rear of the corps devices, and on the shoulder straps of the overcoat. For the full dress, undress and mess dress uniforms the device has the shield in enamel of proper colors, stripes of red and white, field blue with gold stars indicating the rank of the general officer on whose staff the aide-de-camp is serving, two stars for Major General and one star for Brigadier General. For the field coats and the overcoat the device is of the same design but made of dull finish bronze metal.
In order to designate the different departments to which the officers of the Staff of the Marine Corps belong distinctive Departmental Devices are provided to be worn with all uniforms.