Combat patch history - when were they authorized?

[Martinjmpr]

I've been doing a little internet research and have still not found the answer to this. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place?

 

Here's what I'm wondering: We all (I assume) know that the Army tradition of shoulder sleeve insignias dates back to WW1 and the 81st Infantry division (and before someone says it, yes I know that some units in the Civil War had colored cloth patches on the sleeve to identify units; I'm referring to the modern SSI here though.)

 

We also know that some time toward the end of WWII or shortly afterwards, the Army authorized soldiers who had served in wartime to wear their former wartime service SSI on the right sleeve (officially called the Former Wartime Service SSI or FWTS-SSI but more commonly referred to as the "combat patch.")

 

My questions (which I've so far not been able to answer through the usual sources like Google and Wikipedia) are this:

 

1. How did the custom of the right sleeve patch start?

 

My guess (based on experience and knowledge of how other uniform customs evolved) is that it started "unofficially" where some soldiers or units simply started wearing patches of former units to show that they had previously served in those units - I've even seen uniforms where the patch of the former unit is worn on the cuff instead of the shoulder. It would not surprise me if some time during the "unofficial custom" period, the Army tried to "outlaw" the practice or to restrict it.

 

Does anyone know, definitively, where and when the custom started?

 

Or am I completely wrong and was this custom started at "official" levels from the top down? Maybe as part of the uniform changes that took place after the Doolittle commission following WWII?

 

2. When was the FWTS-SSI "officially" recognized and allowed by the Army and put into the Army uniform reg? I don't think I've ever seen a photo of anybody wearing a combat patch during WWII, has anyone else?

 

Thanks in advance. I'm sure the answer to these questions is out there, I'm just not finding it.

[Martinjmpr]

And while I'm on the topic of combat patches - were they authorized by the USAF after 1947? I have seen photos of Korean-war era Army personnel wearing WWII-era USAAF patches but not the other way around, i.e. Post - 1947 USAF personnel wearing right sleeve Army patches from WWII.

[Martinjmpr]

Bumping this up again - does anyone know a good reference on this topic?

[atb]

Search this forum. I posted a timeline a while back for the Former Wartime Shoulder Sleeve Insignia wear.

[Martinjmpr]

ATB: Thanks for the info. I think I found the thread you were referring to.

 

I knew this information was out there somewhere!

 

As a side note, I found it very interesting that the wear of the same SSI on both sleeves was not authorized until the Vietnam war.

 

When my WY NG unit was deployed to Kuwait in 2004, our CSM had us go through a "patching ceremony" mid-way through our tour. For some reason he (and others in the unit) thought that once we were at the 6 month point in our tour, we were authorized to wear the patch on our right sleeve.

 

I pointed out that FWTS-SSI stands for "former wartime service" not "current wartime service" and that in my opinion, the patch should not go on the uniform until we were back in CONUS. But they didn't listen to me and I didn't really care (since I already wore the "electric butterknife" on my right sleeve anyway.)

 

Good stuff. As I guessed, the practice was started by GIs "unofficially" and was later adopted by the "brass" as an official policy.

[sigma9r]

Actually, according to the reg, as long as you are not in the combat zone for a "training mission", once you hit the ground you are authorized to wear the patch! In Kuwait, we didn't wear the Third Army patch for quite a while. The four of us who ran around together thought it looked lame to have the same patch on both shoulders!