Patch ID Help

[Nkomo]

I'll be the first to admit that I know next to nothing about patches. I am mainly a uniform collector and only dabble in patches. Can anyone tell me are these patches real or repro? I am really questioning the Tiger Force patch, but Viet-Nam patches are so hard to tell. Any info on the 7th Armored CAV?

Arch

[vintageproductions]

The Tiger Force is a newly made patch.

[CaptCav]

That 7th Cav patch has always been a mystery to me. In WWII, the 7th Cav was an infantry regt, in an infantry division (1st Cav). The triangle obviously would not work there. The recon battalion for the 7th Armd Div was the 87th Cavalry Recon Bn, Mech. I don't think this patch fits in that hole. During the Cold War, there were 2 battalions (read: infantry bns) of the 7th Cav. They were 1/7 & 2/7 Cav; which were infantry bns with the 1st Cav Div (ie: We Were Soldiers fame). There were also 2 armd recon bns - 3/7 & 4/7 Cav. 3/7 was the DivCav with the 3ID in Germany; and 4/7 Cav was the DivCav for the 2ID in Korea.

 

I doubt seriously that the 7 Cav triangle would have been worn by inf bns in an inf div (1st Cav). Prior to Vietnam, my dad was the CO of 3/40 Armor (the tank bn of 1st Cav Div in Korea). 3/40 Armor did wear a triangle at that time, but it did not have numbers in the apex. also, the 7th Cav was NOT the DivCav; rather it was 1/9 Cav of VN fame. Sooo...... the triangle appears not to work there. Now..... on to Germany and Korea. The 3ID wore all kinds of pocket patches in those years. 3/7 Cav wore a rather large full color pocket patch, which looks like the DI. Also, tank crews (in tank bns) in the 3ID wore (unofficially) armored triangles w/their armd bn numbers on the unofficial tanker jackets in the field. Perhaps this was worn by 3/7 Cav, in this manner? 4/7 Cav (2ID in Korea) did the same, but it's always easy to spot their patches from the 60s/70s; because they are those butt ugly Korean made triangles.

[Andrei]

I had a subdued in-country made triangle patch for the 4/7 Cav, 2nd ID, Korea. I sent a xerox for ID to Clem Kelly of the VICN and that was the answer Clem gave to me.

[tredhed2]

RE: the 7th AD w/ "CAV"....

 

As CaptCav stated, the 87th Cav Rcn Sqdn (Mech) was div rcn for the 7th AD. Even thought I have never seen one for the 7th AD, it was not uncommon for GIs in armor units to have their element units sewn to base of the armor triangle patch. I have examples of this for other armor units in my collection.

 

There are two possible reasons for all these "7 CAV" patches:

 

1) these US made patches were modeled after some enterprising GI in the 87th Rcn Sqdn had this done, and these were then made for the collector's market.

 

2) The 5th, 6th, 7th and 11th ADs were all reactivated for the Korean War. Perhaps some enterprising manufacturer made these up in anticipation that they would be worn (having seen a WW II example), but the idea was nixed.

 

Since the squadron wasn't that large (approx 930 O's and EM in WW II), my bet is on my first suggestion. There are way, way too many of these floating around.