While visiting my brother John's house, he came up with an item Grandma Sheber gave him after he had done some work for her. Grandman Sheber was a pacifist. So much so that she offered to pay my way to Canada in case I was drafted to go to the Vietnam War, which was a very real possibility since I pulled a draft number of 10 in 1971 (out of 365 based on your birthday). I did get a notice to appear for a physical, but before that date, president Nixon ended the draft amid nationwide demonstrations on virtually all public colleges as well as in the streets of many cities. By that time well over half the population was against the war in Vietnam and flag burning was very common especially on college college campuses. It pretty much came to a head in 1971 and things quieted down after the draft ended.
So the existence of this war trophy was not mentioned by my Grandmother. My brother referred to it as a "Hate Belt", but it had other names as well including "Grave Diggers Belt" and "Companion Belt". The correct name might depend of the kind of buttons attached - friends or enemies. John has the above pictured belt. See the section on John Sheber in the linked Page of this blog called "What My Grandmothers Told Me In 1971".
Here is a post I found discussing these souvenirs.
"The belts correct name is a 'stable belt' and the one you have acquired is an early example with a leather pocket. It became common in WW1 for both, leather belts (especially that from the 1903 bandolier equipment), and stable belts to be used to hold badges collected from fellow soldiers and for that reason it was often known as a 'souvenir belt'. The term 'hate belt' is really apocryphal and is supposed to relate to fights between soldiers of rival units whereby soldiers downed would have their badges taken as trophies and supposedly affixed on a belt.
The evolution of the stable belt is quite interesting:
It seems that stable belts began to become popular across the Army as a whole around the turn of the 20th century, although they probably originated with the cavalry a little earlier sometime in the 1880s/1890s. All units at that time had horses on their establishment and those soldiers told off to attend them reported for Stable Parade in Stable Dress which consisted of very high waisted and pocket less breeches, or trousers, held up by braces and collarless, woollen flannel shirts with sleeves rolled up. This was to facilitate the rigorous physical effort and flexibility of movement necessary for mucking out and grooming.
Braces at that time had no elastic as rubber was expensive, they were made of cotton with no 'give' whatsoever and so soldiers commonly allowed the braces to flop down from the waist so that they could bend over freely. For trousers that fitted loosely (due to the high waist) this meant that they tended to slip down and at first soldiers cinched them in with leather belts. Later on the regimental saddlers began to make belts from the same, plain canvas or wool strapping used for the horses Surcingle and utilising the same double leather strap and buckle arrangement for security (if one strap broke the other would hold and prevent the saddle from coming unseated). One particular feature of these early stable belts was a sewn on (or in) pocket, secured by a stud or clip, within which loose change could be kept, or a pocket watch, as there were no pockets in the breeches. As you might imagine these became very popular as the pocket was useful and the extra breadth afforded by the canvas strapping made them very comfortable.
Around about the turn of the 20th century it began to be popular for officers to wear neckties in regimental colours both for sport and less formal, country dress. This habit probably began with the Queens Household troops and Line Cavalry, but quickly spread throughout the Army and it appears as if this use of regimental colours spread to the canvas or wool strapping used to make stable belts. For this reason the stable belts invariably followed the same colour scheme (but not always the same pattern arrangement) of regimental neck ties."
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