This is a U.S. Army khaki cotton garrison cap, the M-1950 pattern folding overseas or "side" cap worn with the summer khaki uniform. The fold is trimmed with a bright yellow soutache cord piping, the branch color of the Cavalry and Armor.

The interior is marked and dated. The contract label reads "Cap, Garrison, Khaki, M-1950, Debway Hats, Inc., Dated 21 Feb. 1951, QM-11332-01-12962, Spec. # MIL-C-1912, Stock #73-C-18070-40, N.Y. Q.M. P.A.," with the inspector's line, and the cap is stamped with a soldier's laundry mark, "M-3690." That 21 February 1951 date places it squarely in the Korean War.

The yellow piping identifies the wearer's branch. Yellow has been the color of the United States Cavalry since the frontier Army, and it carried forward to the Armor branch of the tank and armored-cavalry era, so a yellow-piped cap like this was worn by a cavalryman or a tanker. In 1951 those were the men fighting the armored battles up and down the Korean peninsula, the tank crews and cavalry regiments that spearheaded the United Nations counterattacks.

The cap displays well and shows honest, real service wear. The khaki cotton is toned with age and light staining, the bright yellow branch piping is intact, and the dated contract label and laundry mark are clearly legible. In fairness to the buyer, there is a tear with some fraying at an interior seam as pictured. Offered as a genuine, dated, branch-piped Korean War original with its wear disclosed.

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