On the construction of the leather apron for the Sapper & Miner/Pioneer: The apron should be fairly loose. The apex in the front button should come to about mid sternum....not too high and not too low. It has a gentle flair from the top down to the waist. It is intended to protect the axeman from the branches and pitch/tar while performing his duty. On the apron itself, there is a waist tie that wraps around the man. It is fairly long and goes around the middle to tie in the back. (i.e. from each side a tie goes around the back and around to the front and around again to tie in the back.) When walking/marching the left leg side is tucked up under this tie in the front thus lifting this edge to make it easy to move one's legs.

     Crossed axes patch - While this sapper is shown with a crossed axes patch in the facings color of our unit (violet) we have since learned that this patch should be done in black, and not the facings color of the unit.