Camp Haan Assistant Fire Chief Badge

The Camp Haan Assistant Fire Chief badge was made between November 1940 to late December 1941. The badge measures 73.01 x 45.06 mm and was made by Chipron Stamp Company of Los Angles. The badge appears to be made of brass as there are no other markings to indicate if the metal was gold.

Camp Haan, California, which was located near Riverside, was established in November 1940 and closed in March 1946. The significance of this badge is that when it was made, the Quartermaster Corps (QMC) was responsible for fire prevention operations on all military installations since the beginning of WWI. On 4 December 1941, just days before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the QMC transferred the military construction and fire fighting operations over to the US Army Corps of Engineers. It would be interesting to know if the badges were remade, replacing the ones with ‘QMC’ for the ‘COE’.

Larry