What do you think?

[joevann]

This sure looks like a WWII fatigue fly button to me.  I think I can even make out the "U.S. Army"   http://www.ebay.com/itm/CIVIL-WAR-US-ARMY-SEW-THROUGH-BUTTON-DUG-BRANDY-/380651027848?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item58a091bd88#ht_129wt_1399

[jonpatterson]

Hi Joe,

If you rotate the picture so the blue corner is in the upper right, there looks to be an "S" at 1:00, not sure it is a "U" to the left of it as what I would expect of the angle of slant looks wrong to me. I also see what looks like a "Y" at 5:30. Perhaps "EM" preceding it (7:00 to 6:00), mostly a guess on them.  Jon

[Pete George]

That 4-hole US Army button is made of zinc, and it dates from World War One.  Here's a photo showing one, and its smaller mate, on a US Army uniform's pants whose manufacturer-label is dated March 15, 1918.

These zinc WW1 pants-buttons came in two sizes. Yours is the larger size, and says "US Army." The smaller version was for the pants fly, and says simply "USA."

Regards,
Pete

[joevann]

Yeah, I've been collecting buttons for over 30 years and I was pretty sure it wasn't ACW.  I didn't realize they were as early as WWI, of course, the same uniform was still in use at the beginning of WWII.

[Pete George]

Thanks, Joe. It makes sense that some of those buttons were still being used in the late-1930s, like a lot of other "leftover" WW1 US Army equipment. (As an example of that... many years ago, I was surprised to see that some old WW1-style "Doughboy" helmets were worn by US troops during the attack on Pearl Harbor.)

[6lbgun]

The helmet that Pete is talking about at Pearl Harbor are pattern 1917A1.  They are basically a 1917 with an upgraded liner  The 1917A1 was adopted in 1936.  This was replaced by the M1 in June of 1941.
Dan