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

[world war I nerd]

To my knowledge there is no known date as to when the regulation style star and Indian head made its debut in Germany or which German firms manufactured them. Although no mention was made of what style of star and Indian head he wore, a 2^nd Division Marine referred to his new SSI as “that thing on my shoulder” in a letter mailed with a photograph dated 21 February 1919:

 

That thing on my shoulder in the picture is an Indian Head and shows M.P.’s and others that I belong to the second division. It is a yellow diamond with a white star and a red and black Indian inside of that.

 

Unknown Soldier, 78^th Company, 2^nd Division, AEF

Photo No. 158: Regulation style star and Indian heads sewn onto blue, wool felt background cloth, all of which represent the 3^rd Battalion.

[world war I nerd]

Another soldier, a lieutenant dispatched from the 2^nd Engineer Regiment’s camp in Engers, Germany to the 2^nd Corps School located in Chatillion, France, noted the day he had his star and Indian head insignia sewn on:

 

Thursday – Jan 7, 1919 (Chantillion)

 

Firing ARs in A.m.

Map reproduction in P.m.

Got check for 566.41 francs from Q.M. who threatened court marshal proceedings for all “AWOLs’ who did not make a four day deduction on pay vouchers. C’nest fait rieu. Cawped on the spot and had Indian heads and army of occupation badges sewed on.

 

1^st Lieutenant Quincy Claude Ayers, Company F, 2^nd Engineer Regiment, 2^nd Division, AEF

Photo No. 159: Regulation style star and Indian heads sewn onto black, wool felt and velvet background cloth, all of which represent HQ Companies.

[world war I nerd]

Photo No. 160: Regulation style star and Indian heads as worn by 5^th and 6^th Marine Regiment personnel.

[world war I nerd]

Photo No. 161: Regulation style star and Indian heads sewn onto purple, wool felt and velvet background cloth, all of which represent the Machine Gun Companies.

[world war I nerd]

Photo No. 162: Regulation style star and Indian heads sewn onto green and purple, wool felt and velvet background cloth, all of which represent Supply Companies and Machine Gun Companies respectively.

[world war I nerd]

Photo No. 163: Regulation style star and Indian heads worn by 9^th Infantry Regiment, 2^nd Engineer Regiment personnel, and by a YMCA volunteer who likely ran the 17^th Field Artillery Regiment’s YMCA hut.

 

Right and left hand photos courtesy of the John Adam-Graf collection

[world war I nerd]

Photo No. 164: The 9^th Infantry Regiment seems to have been the only 2^nd Division organization that utilized the background shape and color to frame the regulation star and Indian head.

 

Doughboy photo courtesy of the John Adam-Graf collection

[world war I nerd]

Photo No. 165: Three more regulation star and Indian heads applied to USMC shaped background cloths.

[world war I nerd]

Photo No. 166: Each of these machine embroidered, regulation style star and Indian Heads is slightly different in respect to the Indian’s profile, the details embroidered in black, the color of the war bonnets headband and feathers, as well as the flesh color of the thread used to embroider the face.

[world war I nerd]

Photo No. 167: Throughout occupied Germany, 2^nd Division personnel wore a wide variety of types and styles of star and Indian head designs. However in this photograph of the 5^th Marine Regiment debarking at the port of Hoboken in New Jersey all of the insignia that is visible is of the regulation type. This indicates that at some point prior to boarding a troop ship bound for America new uniforms with standardized insignia were issued.

[world war I nerd]

Double Patched

Star & Indian Heads

Photo No. 168: Although the practice was not common, it wasn’t unusual for AEF units that spent time in occupied Germany to wear their unit insignia in conjunction with that of the 3^rd Army. Here miniature 3^rd Army emblems have been affixed to 42^nd Division, 90^th Division, 6^th Division, and Tank Corps shoulder patches.

[world war I nerd]

Photo No. 169: Three examples of 2^nd Division star and Indian heads bearing miniature 3^rd Army insignia.

[world war I nerd]

Photo No. 170: Miniature red, white and blue aviation roundels were frequently applied to AEF insignia that was associated with the Air Service. In most instances, roundels turn up on Army, Corps and Aero Squadron emblems, like these 1^st Corps, 3^rd Corps and 13^th Aero Squadron shoulder patches.

[world war I nerd]

Photo No. 171: As far as I know the 2^nd Division was the only infantry division to have an aero squadron roundel applied to it. Thus far, no solid information as to why this was so has surfaced. Here a period photograph showing aero roundels being worn on shield shaped 2^nd Division insignia is sandwiched between two examples of hand painted Indian heads and aero roundels that have been applied to black, shield shaped backgrounds.

 

There is a thread devoted to this subject somewhere on the forum, which I was unable to locate. If anyone can find it, please post a link to it here.

[world war I nerd]

Liberty Loan

Star & Indian Heads

Produced in late 1918 or early in 1919, the so called Liberty Loan patches were devised by the U.S. Treasury Department to help raise money for the War Loan Program. As part of the Liberty Loan Campaign AEF shoulder patches were sold or given out in response to a donation at various shops, emporiums and banks to help pay for the war. Liberty Loan style insignia were also made available to U.S. servicemen at base post exchanges, as well as at the U.S. Ports of Debarkation, and possibly overseas.

Liberty Loan insignia are said to be the first insignia mass produced by the U.S. Army. Manufactured by the Kluge Weaving Company and the A.E. F. Divisional Insignia Company, insignia of the Liberty Loan type are entirely machine woven from thin cotton, silk or artificial silk.

 

Photo No. 172: So far, I have only encountered two styles of 2^nd Division Liberty Loan SSI: One featuring the star and Indian head motif within a circle, and another with an entirely different Indian head placed within a shield. The left hand Liberty Loan star and Indian head has had its backing trimmed away, and the star and Indian head within a circle has been sewn onto a red square, the background shape and color of the 1^st Battalion, 5^th Marine Regiment.

[world war I nerd]

A Post-War Postscript

Following the Armistice and occupation duty in Germany the Regular Army was anxious to return to “proper soldiering”. It began by abolishing certain articles of equipment that were associated only with the AEF. Upon arrival at one of the U.S. Ports of Embarkation officer and enlisted man, Doughboy and Marine were no longer authorized to wear trench coats, overseas caps, Sam Browne belts, and the shoulder patches that they were so proud of. A few days after the troops of the 2^nd Division set foot on American soil, the combat veterans were instructed to remove their unauthorized star and Indian head SSI.

 

Photo No. 173: It was with great reluctance and some degree of bitterness that the men of the 2^nd Division stripped the colorful insignia from the sleeves of their service coats.

[world war I nerd]

As soon as the division was situated at its new post in Texas, Colonel Harry A. Eaton, the CO of the 23^rd Infantry Regiment put forth a case to have the 2^nd Division’s insignia reinstated. In a letter directed to the Adjutant General of the U.S. Army he explained how AEF shoulder insignia would be of benefit to the peacetime Army. Apparently while the division – minus their star and Indian head shoulder insignia, moved from the Port of Debarkation to Texas there was some confusion as men from the various units became mixed together. Eaton’s letter stated:

 

That men of the Second Division had passed through San Antonio, Fort Sam Houston, Headquarters Southern Department, Camp Normoyle, Camp Stanley, Kelly Field, and Brooks field in such numbers that confusion resulted because no unit shoulder sleeve insignia was worn … that sleeve insignia would be convenient and much in interest of the service if officers and men could be readily identified.

 

In Eaton’s closing arguments, he requested and urgently recommended that:

 

The Second Division be permanently authorized to wear the insignia.

 

Letter from Colonel Eaton to General Pegram, Adjutant General, November 13, 1919

Six months later in May of 1920, Colonel Eaton, now the CO of the 2^nd Division won the argument when the War Department adopted SSI for all units of the Regular Army, National Guard, and National Army. The War Department however, directed that the different background color and shapes would no longer be used. Instead a black shield with a white star and Indian head would be the official insignia worn by all members of the 2^nd Division. This order made the star and Indian head insignia a permanent part of the 2^nd Division’s uniform.

 

Photo No. 174: This official QTMC blueprint of a regulation 2^nd Infantry Division insignia dated 11 July 1927, is compared to a regulation 2^nd Division insignia from the 1920 or 1930.

[world war I nerd]

Post War

Star & Indian Heads

During the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, “official” AEF insignia were mass produced by numerous firms that catered to the combat veterans and veteran organizations. In the decades that followed the Armistice, AEF veterans dusted off their old uniforms and wore them with immense pride at reunions, VFW meetings, and 4^th of July parades. Often at such events such, vendors appeared like ants at a picnic to hawk post war manufactured AEF insignia.

 

Photo No. 175: This soldier possibly serving with the 2^nd Division in the early 1920s wears a post war commercially manufactured style star and Indian head insignia.

[world war I nerd]

Photo No. 176: Not sure if these appliqué style of 2^nd Division star and Indian heads were manufactured in Europe or in America.

[world war I nerd]

Photo No. 177: Possible European made appliqué and embroidered star and Indian head SSI.

[world war I nerd]

Photo No. 178: This style of mass produced star and Indian head insignia has turned up on a number of authentic 2^nd Division service coats. It has also been spotted in a handful of period photographs. This makes it possible that they were made in America early in 1919 for the returning veterans.

[world war I nerd]

Photo No. 179: More American made, post war, machine embroidered star and Indian head insignia.

[world war I nerd]

Photo No. 180: Commercially made, post war, machine embroidered star and Indian heads, possibly from the 1920s.

[world war I nerd]

Photo No. 181: Possibly 1930s vintage, post war machine or hand embroidered star and Indian heads.

[world war I nerd]

Photo No. 182: More post war star and Indian heads fabricated on colored backgrounds for the veterans of WW I.