§ 31-2-17 — Unauthorized Wearing of Uniform of United States Armed Forces

It shall be unlawful for any person not an officer, warrant officer, or enlisted man of the United States Armed Forces to wear the duly prescribed uniform or any distinctive part thereof, of the uniform of the United States Armed Forces, within the boundaries of the State of Alabama; provided that the foregoing provisions shall not be construed so as to prevent officers, warrant officers, or enlisted men of the National Guard or Naval Militia, or such other organizations as the Secretary of Defense shall designate, from wearing the prescribed uniform, nor to prevent persons who in time of war have served honorably as officers of the United States Armed Forces, regular or volunteer, whose most recent service was terminated by an honorable discharge, muster out or resignation, from wearing, upon occasions of ceremony, the uniform of the highest grade they held by brevet or other commission in such regular or volunteer service; nor to prevent any person who has been honorably discharged from the United States Armed Forces, regular or volunteer, from wearing his uniform from the place of his discharge to his home within three months after his discharge; nor to prevent the members of military societies composed entirely of honorably discharged officers, warrant officers, or enlisted men or both of the United States Armed Forces, regular or volunteer, from wearing upon occasions of ceremony the uniform duly prescribed by such societies to be worn by the members thereof; nor to prevent the instructors and members of the duly organized cadet corps of a state university, state college, or public high school offering a regular course in military instruction from wearing the uniform duly prescribed by the authorities of such university, college, or public high school; nor to prevent the instructors or members of a duly organized cadet corps of any other institution of learning offering a regular course in military instruction, and at which an officer of the United States Army, Navy, or Marine Corps is lawfully detailed for duty as an instructor in military science and tactics, from wearing the uniform duly prescribed by the authorities of such institution of learning for wear by such instructors and members of such cadet corps; nor to prevent civilians attendant upon a course of military or naval instruction authorized by the military or naval authorities of the United States from wearing, while in attendance upon such a course, the uniform authorized and prescribed by such military authorities during such course of instruction; nor to prevent any person from wearing the uniform of the United States Armed Forces in any playhouse or theater or in a moving picture film, while actually engaged in portraying therein a military or naval character not tending to bring discredit upon the United States Armed Forces; provided further, that the uniform worn by officers and enlisted men of the National Guard or by members of the military societies or the instructors and members of the cadet corps referred to above shall include the distinctive mark or insignia prescribed by the Secretary of Defense to distinguish such uniform from the uniform of the United States Armed Forces; and provided further, that nothing in this chapter shall prohibit the uniformed rank of fraternal societies parading or traveling in a body or assembling in a lodge room; provided further, that whenever the National Guard or a part thereof is in active service, no fraternal organization or members thereof shall parade or appear in uniform in the locality where the National Guard is in service; and, provided further, that this section shall not apply to cadets or Boy Scouts. Any person who violates any provision of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not less than $10.00 nor more than $250.00, or by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not exceeding 60 days, or by both fine and imprisonment.

Legislative History

(Acts 1936, Ex. Sess., No. 143, p. 105; Code 1940, T. 35, §18; Acts 1973, No. 1038, p. 1572, §17.)