Boys' Historical Uniform Garments: Accessories--Lanyards

Figure 1.--These Flemish VNJ members both wear lanyards. The boy has a green lanyard, the girl a white lanyard. I'm not sure what the different colors meant.

Lanyards -with or without a whistle- were of course not only worn with sailor suits. They were -- and in some instances still are - an inegral part of the uniform of a number of youth movements. A Dutch reader tells us, "I wore them as a patrol leader with the boy scouts and note that the were wirn by many other youth movements, including Chiro, the Hithler Youth, KSA, and VNJ." The lanyards were often white, but not always. Colored and multi-colored lanyards were an indication of rank or membership in soecialized units such a musical groups. The Hitler Youth in particular had a very complicated system of colored lanyards. Like sailor suits, some of these lanyards had whistles attached. This wasespecially true for the lanyards that were symbols of rank. Some were purely decorative. Lanyards were a rather decorative part of youth uniforms. Interestingly with some modern groups that have largely abndoned uniforms, the lanyard is still used. Noth as a badge of rank and to secure a whistle which is used to signal groups together.

Origins

The lanyard is an item of military uniforming. Like so much of youth group uniforming, the origins of the various items primarily comes from the military.

Chronology

Lanyards -with or without a whistle- were of course not only worn with sailor suits. They were -- and in some instances still are - an inegral part of the uniform of a number of youth movements. Lanyards were a rather decorative part of youth uniforms. Interestingly with some modern groups that have largely abndoned uniforms, the lanyard is still used. Noth as a badge of rank and to secure a whistle which is used to signal groups together.

Organizations

The lanyard was an extensively used uniform accessory item used by uniformed youth groups. A Dutch reader tells us, "I wore them as a patrol leader with the boy scouts and note that the were worn by many other youth movements, including Chiro, the Hithler Youth, KSA, and VNJ." Our Dutch reader is quite correct, lanyards were worn by quite a range of different youth gtoups. Of all the major groups, the lanyard was probably least used by Scouts--although there are differences aong national Scout groups. Other youth groups made extensive use of the lanyard as part of the uniform. It was perhaps most used by the Hitler Youth and other Fascist youth groups during the 1930s and early 40s. We have only limited actual information about the use of the lanyard in these groups, but available images provide some information. Unfortunately for many groups available black and white photographs make it virtually impossible to disdcern the colors.

Colors

The lanyards were often white, but not always. We notice many different colors being used. There were also multi-colored lanyards. With the multi-colored lanyards these possible combinations are quite large. Just two color combinations give quite a number of possibilitirs. Thre color combinations provide a huge number of possibilities. and the system can become quite complicated. Colored and multi-colored lanyards were an indication of rank or membership in specialized units such a musical groups. The Hitler Youth in particular had a very complicated system of colored lanyards.

Whistles

Like sailor suits, some of these lanyards had whistles attached. This was especially true for the lanyards that were symbols of rank. The whistle had practical purposes useful for leaders to assemble and otherwise signal members of a youth group leader. We have no information at this time on the types if whistles used.

Purposes

Some lanyards were purely decorative. There were also pracrical purposes which includented both group identity and symbols of rank. The decorative lanyards were commonly used to identfy musical groups like drum and buggle corps. There were also used for other specialized groups such as the air, sea, and other specialized units of the Hitler Youth. Others had more practical uses to identify leaders. Here a whistle was often added. The lanyard was most commonly, but not always, worn with dress uniforms. Here there were differences among different youth groups. We even see the lanyard being used by groups that have largely dispensed with uniform. Here it has the practical purpose of holding a whisle and identifying leaders.