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Star and Indian Head Insignia of the 2nd Infantry Division, AEF


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Photo No. 55: 5th Infantry Regiment: USMC – Star and Indian head on a square shaped background as follows:

  • 1st Battalion – Red
  • 2nd Battalion – Yellow
  • 3rd Battalion – Blue

Left: These 5th Marine Regiment SSI are composed of hand embroidery on felt, the “issue “or regulation Indian head on felt, and an appliqué constructed Indian head on felt. The upper patch with soutache around the border was likely made in Germany. 2nd Division insignia made using issued Indian heads could have been fabricated at any location, including France, Germany, the Atlantic Ocean or the U.S.A. The origin of the bottom SSI is unknown. Some say this style was made in Germany … others claim they were commercially made in America during the 1920s.

 

Right: This Marine wears the shoulder flash of the 5th Marine Regiment with an issued Indian head.

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Photo No. 56: 5th Infantry Regiment: USMC (continued) – Star and Indian head on a square shaped background as follows:

  • Headquarters Company – Black
  • Machine Gun Company – Purple
  • Supply Company – Green

Left: This Marine proudly wears a painted Indian head on his Army issued olive drab service dress.

 

Marine photo courtesy of the John Adam-Graf collection

Right: Three of the most common styles of Indian head – hand embroidered, regulation, and appliqué are shown here on felt, velvet and felt background cloths.

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Photo No. 57: 6th Infantry Regiment: USMC – Star and Indian head on a diamond shaped background as follows:

  • 1st Battalion – Red
  • 2nd Battalion – Yellow
  • 3rd Battalion – Blue

Left: A regulation Indian head along with a single war service chevron, and a pair of USMC collar discs comprise the martial insignia worn by this Marine on his Army issued 1917 Woolen Service Coat.

 

Right: Two appliqué style Indian heads (top and bottom), as well as a hand embroidered example complete this selection of 2nd Division SSI.

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Photo No 58: 6th Infantry Regiment: USMC (continued) – Star and Indian head on a diamond shaped background as follows:

  • Headquarters Company – Black
  • Machine Gun Company – Purple
  • Supply Company – Green

Left: Pharmacist’s Mate 1st Class John Balch receives the Medal of Honor from Rear Admiral Frederick B. Bassett. Balch appears to have a SSI with a hand embroidered Indian head similar to the one pictured at bottom right.

 

Right: A appliqué, embroidered, and yet another appliqué Indian head.

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Photo No. 59: 6th Machine Gun Battalion: USMC – Star and Indian head on a purple, horizontal oval shaped background.

Left: Machine embroidered, regulation, and an appliqué Indian head have all been sewn onto velvet backing cloths. The upper Indian head is believed to be commercially made and the lower Indian head with hand embroidered details and a soutache border around the star was likely fabricated in Germany.

 

Right: 2nd Lieutenant Wilbur T. Love has opted to wear a hand painted Indian head on his 1914 pattern USMC Winter Service Coat.

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Photo No. 60: 2nd Artillery Brigade Headquarters – Star and Indian head on a black, vertical oval shaped background.

Left: This Indian head has been hand painted onto a cotton star which has been stitched onto a black velvet backing cloth.

 

Right: The HQ, 2nd Artillery Brigade logo as painted onto the front of a steel helmet.

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Photo No. 61: 12th Artillery Regiment – Star and Indian head on a horizontal rectangle background as follows:

  • 1st Battalion – Red
  • 2nd Battalion – Yellow
  • 3rd Battalion – Blue
  • Headquarters Company – Black
  • Supply Company – Green

Two different hand painted Indian heads and an unusual style of regulation Indian head have been used on these 12th Field Artillery Regiment SSI.

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Photo No. 62: 15th Artillery Regiment – Star and Indian head on a vertical rectangle background as follows:

  • 1st Battalion – Red
  • 2nd Battalion – Yellow
  • 3rd Battalion – Blue
  • Headquarters Company – Black
  • Supply Company – Green

Regulation, hand embroidery, and hand painted Indian heads are shown on what looks to be velvet, silk, and felt backing cloths.

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Photo No. 63: 17th Artillery Regiment – Star and Indian head on a projectile shaped background as follows:

  • 1st Battalion – Red
  • 2nd Battalion – Yellow
  • 3rd Battalion – Blue
  • Headquarters Company – Black
  • Supply Company – Green

The Indian heads in this selection of 17th Field Artillery shoulder patches are comprised of the regulation style, appliqué embellished with embroidery, and appliqué style.

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Photo No. 64: 2nd Ammunition Train – Star and Indian head on a green, projectile shaped background.

From left to right: An appliqué, hand or machine embroidered, and a regulation style Indian head all on green felt.

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Photo No. 65: Support Units attached to the 2nd Division – Star and Indian head only, no shape or color of background cloth was authorized.

 

In order to keep the front line units operating efficiently, a number of U.S. Army support units were assigned to each AEF combat division. Because these organizations operated either solely for, or on a semi-permanent basis with the division to which they were posted, it was decided that they too should wear the emblem of the division with which they were associated with. In the case of the 2nd Division which had a unique color and shape for each command, it was decided that the star and Indian head symbol would be sewn directly onto the service coat without any shape or color of backing cloth. The known organizations that qualified to wear the star and Indian head SSI sans backing cloth were as follows:

  • Bakery Unit No. 319 – Quartermaster Corps
  • Clothing and Bath Unit No. 317 – Quartermaster Corps
  • Clothing and Bath Unit No. 320 – Quartermaster Corps
  • Laundry Unit No. 326 – Quartermaster Corps
  • Mobile Ordnance Repair Unit No. 2 – Ordnance Department
  • Mobile Surgical Unit (number unknown) – Medical Department
  • Mobile Veterinary Section No. 2 – Medical Department
  • Motor Service Park No. 303 – Motor Transport Corps
  • Motor Service Park No. 363 – Motor Transport Corps
  • Postal Service Detachment, A.P.O. 710 – Postal Service
  • Quartermaster Detachment (number unknown) – Quartermaster Corps
  • Railhead Detachment (number unknown) – Engineer/Quartermaster Corps
  • Sales Commissary Unit No. 1 – Quartermaster Corps
  • Salvage Squad No. 2 – Quartermaster Corps

From left to right: A hand painted Indian head sewn onto a khaki cotton service coat; a regulation Indian head before being cut from the woolen cloth on which it was embroidered; and a regulation Indian head after being trimmed.

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Photo No. 66: Composite Regiment – Star and Indian head only, no background cloth was authorized.

 

The 3rd Army’s “Composite Regiment was an elite parade formation that was formed in May of 1919. It was made up of chosen men, selected from among the six Regular Army Divisions within the 3rd Army. Nicknamed ‘Pershing’s Own’ because the regiment always accompanied the Commander in Chief to formal functions, the Composite Regiment was composed of a HQ Detachment with a band and twelve infantry companies as follows:

  • 1st Regiment: Company A, 1st Division, Company B, 1st Division, Company C, 3rd Division, Company D, 3rd Division
  • 2nd Regiment: Company E, 4th Infantry Brigade USMC, 2nd Division, Company F, 3rd Infantry Brigade Army, 2nd Division, Company G, 5th Division, Company H, 5th Division
  • 3rd Regiment: Company I, 4th Division, Company K, 4th Division, Company L, 6th Division, Company M, 6th Division

The Marine and Army personnel that made up Company’s E and F were selected from the ranks of every combat outfit within the 2nd Division. In order to present a more homogenous appearance, their multi-colored SSI were removed and replaced with a generic star and Indianhead insignia without any distinguishing shape or color behind it. The plain star and Indian head insignia can be seen on the left shoulders of these men from Company F’s HQ detachment.

 

Photo courtesy of the John Adam-Graf collection

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Photo No. 67: The soldiers in both of these photos are Marines. That along with the fact that they all wear star and Indian heads without a background cloth indicates that they hail from Company E, the all Marine company of the Composite Regiment. The close ups both show that the insignia is the regulation style of star and Indian head.

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Star & Indian Head

Materials and Construction Techniques

Photo No. 68: Within a single unit of the 2nd Division, one would expect to see a certain degree of uniformity in respect to the SSI worn by that organization. However, that was not always the case. This sampling of 2nd Engineer Regiment insignia, all of which are believed to have originated in Germany, shows the four most common types of Indian head construction methods, from left to right:

  • Appliqué
  • Hand Embroidered
  • Hand Painted
  • Machine Embroidered

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Photo No. 69: The fact that the 2nd Division star and Indian head insignia may have been made one at a time by an enterprising soldier, French seamstress or a German hausfrau, or fabricated a dozen at a time in camp by the regiment’s company tailors, or mass produced in wholesale lots at a textile mill located on either side of the Atlantic, or custom made by a professional tailor in major cities such as New York, London and Paris, or hand crafted by European artisans in the villages and towns in which the troops were billeted, or pieced together by a soldier’s mother or sweetheart upon his return to America, or commercially manufactured by vendors catering to the post war veterans organizations is why the quality and detail represented by any display of WW I era star and Indian head insignia is represented by every degree of craftsmanship from rustic … to mediocre … to outstanding.

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Photo No. 70: Within the framework of regulation background shapes and colors, innumerable variations of the star and Indian head can be found. This is partially due to the vast array of fabrics, such as wool, felt, cotton, cotton satin, silk, and even leather from which the various shapes of the individual components were cut.

 

The backing cloth on this star and Indian head that looks as if it was created by Dr. Frankenstein is made from purple and red velvet, painted leather, and yellow wool. Three of the stars have been made from white cotton cloth, one of which is edged with gold soutache, and one was created from white paint. The upper half of the Indian’s face is cut from red felt and the lower half has been hand embroidered with red silk thread. The details on both halves of the head have been hand embroidered using black, white, and orange thread. Both of the war bonnet headbands have been cut from a scrap of the same white cotton fabric that the star was cut from. The upper headband has been decorated with red wool, and the lower example has been chain stitched using black thread. The feather portion of both war bonnets have been hand painted in two vastly different styles.

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Photo No. 71: Often each component of the star and Indian head insignia was further decorated with embroidered details made from a selection of cotton, silk, and metallic thread, along with various shades of woolen yarn. Each of which contributed towards the individuality of the Indian head’s design.

 

The backing cloths on this composite star and Indian head insignia is made from yellow wool, red felt, blue velvet, and blue felt. The star has been cut from white silk or cotton satin, felt, and cotton fabrics, and machine embroidered in white on a khaki wool background. The upper half of the Indian head is red felt with details hand embroidered in black thread. The lower half of the face is entirely machine embroidered using flesh and black colored thread. The war bonnet’s headband is comprised of hand embroidery in black and gold bullion piping. The feathers of the upper half of the war bonnet have been made from various shades of woolen yarn, and the lower half from mercerized cotton embroidery thread.

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If any Indian head shoulder patches were worn by enlisted men in the field, they would likely have been fabricated by the soldiers. In most cases, they would have been very crude in appearance and fashioned from whatever materials that came to hand. However, early insignia could just as easily have been made in a variety of patterns and styles by any French mademoiselle who happened to be handy with a needle and thread in exchange for some American tobacco, a tin of corned beef or a few French francs. In the article on 26th Division insignia,* Scott Kraska opined on the construction techniques of early AEF shoulder patches:

 

The first shoulder sleeve insignia frequently had a make-shift appearance and were manufactured of wool felt-on-felt or other cloth in muted colors …

 

In regards to the YD patches, the first ones available to the units in France were crudely made in France by the soldiers themselves or local seamstresses. I had the honor of interviewing a member of Co. K, 101st Infantry several years ago. At the time he was 102 years old and still recalled clearly much of the war in France. He related to me the story of “Cootie Mary” and how she was the local elder seamstress for his group of fellows and she did the sewing on of the patches when they were approved. She also did repairs on socks, etc.

 

Helmet Insignia of the 26th “Yankee” Division, 1917 – 1919, Scott Kraska, page 1

*Link to Mr. Kraska’s article: http://www.baystatemilitaria.com/img%20-%20%20helmet%20insignia%20of%2026th%20div-page%201%20-doc973.jpg

Photo No. 72: The materials suggest that this insignia was made in France after the colors and background shapes of the 2nd Division insignia had been determined in October of 1918. The design however, implies that the insignia was fabricated later in Germany.

Do any forum members have any solid information or informed opinions, on the difference between French and German made shoulder patches from WW I

The Indian head on this HQ 2nd Division SSI appears to be cut from scarlet or Garance, as the French called that color of wool. All French Army trousers were made from garance colored wool until 1915. Garance wool was also used as the background of the unit designations stitched onto the collars of the Piolu’s early calf length service coat as seen in the illustration of the French Army uniform that was worn throughout 1914 and 1915. The feathers of the war bonnet look to have been cut from a scrap of French horizon blue uniform cloth as shown on the right.

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Photo No. 73: It’s possible that the Indian head and war bonnet on this 2nd Sanitary Train insignia was also been cut from a pair of obsolete garance colored French Army trousers. The star is made from white cotton or linen fabric, and the green, cross shaped background cloth seems to have come from a German field gray woolen uniform. The Indian head’s details have been crudely fashioned from various widths of yarn, a length of twine and thread. This combination of materials would have been readily available in any French or German village. It also suggests that it could have been field or locally made while the war was still in progress.

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Photo No. 74: 2nd Division insignia were often embellished with different forms of trim like colored and metallic tapes and piping. For reasons unknown the use of metallic colored tape and gold or silver bullion soutache is usually associated with German made insignia. Silver and gold soutache have both been incorporated into the red 1st Battalion, 17th Artillery Regiment SSI. White or silver bullion soutache has been used to represent the war bonnet’s headband on this HQ Company, 2nd Engineer Regiment insignia.

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Photo No. 75: The shield shaped projectile on a green background that was used for both the 17th Field Artillery Regiment and the 2nd Ammunition Train’s SSI are often embellished with two rows of yellow paint or gold bullion soutache placed at the base of the shell. This extra detail presumably, had no significance, other than to represent the rotating bands seen on an actual artillery projectile.

 

Note that the rotating bands appear on the insignia as painted on a steel helmet and on a very detailed appliqué and hand embroidered SSI. Because charitable organizations like the YMCA and Salvation Army were permanently posted to many AEF organizations, a number of the volunteers of those organizations were authorized to wear the SSI of the Army, Corps, Division or Regiment with which they served. This YMCA worker wears the insignia of the 17th Artillery Regiment with soutache at the base of the projectile.

 

YMCA Photo courtesy of the John Adam-Graf collection

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Photo No. 76: One of the most common ways soutache was utilized on 2nd Division SSI was as a border around the star. I’m reasonably certain that insignia bearing this style of Indian head were fabricated in Germany.

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Photo No. 77: Another common use of soutache was to create a border around the background cloth. The design style and materials used on both of the red 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment SSI indicate that they were fabricated by the same person or the same shop. The yellow, gold edged, 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment shoulder patch’s Indian head is similar to the type shown in the above photo. However, I believe it to be a different, and less skillful, German vendor’s attempt at mimicking that particular style of Indian head.

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Early

2nd Division Star & Indian Heads

Photo No. 78: This U.S. Marine is wearing an early variation of the 2nd Division insignia that was presumably made before the regulation shapes and colors of each command’s background cloth had been approved.

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As early as August 1918, General Lejeune had tentatively authorized the star and Indian head design to be worn as the 2nd Division’s official insignia. Although there is no photographic evidence to support this claim, it was reported that French made star and Indian head insignia were being worn by members of the 2nd Division’s HQ before approval to do so had been granted. Other sources state that the men of the 4th marine Brigade were the first to wear the star and Indian Head. No doubt, scholars will be debating that fact for years to come, but based on the photographic evidence shown here, I’d have to say that it was the Marines.

 

Photo No. 79: Both of these Marines are wearing early and unofficial 2nd Division insignia. The insignia worn by the Marine on the left wearing Army olive drab is comprised of an unadorned star within a circle, which may have been improvised form an early variation of the 79th Infantry Division’s insignia. The Marine on the right in dress blues has an unofficial insignia consisting of a star with what may be an Indian head in the center, positioned beneath the numeral ‘2’.

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