Per U.S. Army regulations, our chin straps for Service Caps worn by all Commissioned and Warrant Officers in the United States Army are a half-inch wide and 10 inches long. Choose between a strap made with synthetic metallic gold-colored lace or the more brilliant two-vellum gold wire lace.
Chin straps on Service Caps are purely decorative, and the use of gold-colored straps for Officers’ cap is a subtle way of visually conveying rank even at a distance. But shortages of various materials during World War II meant that ornamentation always took a back seat to function and comfort, and the chin strap is no exception. Rather than synthetic metal for lace or gold wire, the chin strap on the Officer’s Service Cap was made simply of “Army russet leather.” On the other hand, this in itself could be considered something of a luxury, at least if you were a civilian: leather rationing meant that every man, woman, and child was limited to purchasing only three pairs of leather shoes a year beginning in February 1943, a number that fell to just two in March of 1944. The rationing was finally ended on 30 October 1945.