Oversize WW I Shoulder Patches

[world war I nerd]

Over the past few years I've encountered a handful of period photographs in which the Doughboys & Marines are wearing shoulder sleeve insignia that in respect to size, appear to be on the plus side of normal. In other words they are oversize ... bigger than the average run of the mill WW I era shoulder patch.

 

I'm hoping that you all will opine on whether you think they look (or don't look) larger than normal. Or better yet, post photos of your own showing other examples of WW I shoulder patches that you think are larger than the norm.

 

Thanks for looking ... World War I Nerd

 

Photo No 01: I'll start things with these two 2nd Division Marines sporting what look like jumbo size, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment shoulder patches.

 

Left hand photo courtesy of the National War Museum

Right hand photo courtesy of the 12A54 collection

[world war I nerd]

Photo No. 02: Depicted here are larger than life 5th & 6th Division insignia.

 

Photos courtesy of the Charles Thomas collection

[world war I nerd]

Photo No. 03: A biggish 1st & 35th Division insignia.

 

Right hand photo courtesy of the John Adams-Graf collection

[world war I nerd]

Photo No. 04: A huge 77th Division shoulder sleeve insignia (left) and what I believe to be its twin on the right.

 

Right hand photo courtesy of the John Adams-Graf collection

[world war I nerd]

Photo No. 05: The so called "twin" 77th Division image from above was cropped from this shot borrowed from Armistice Day newsreel footage.

 

Is it a 77th Division insignia or something else?

[world war I nerd]

Photo N0. 06: The last two plus size patches hail from the 79th & 80th Divisions respectively.

 

If you have any immense, enormous or colossal sized WW I era patches, post em' if you got em'

[Patchcollector]

Thanks for starting a thread on this fascinating subject.Over the years I too,have seen some photos of the oversized patches and had found them interesting and like you,wondered what the story was regarding them.

[David D]

Photo No. 05: The so called "twin" 77th Division image from above was cropped from this shot borrowed from Armistice Day newsreel footage.

 

Is it a 77th Division insignia or something else?

Looks more like a "YD" patch to me

[world war I nerd]

David, I too thought it might be a Yankee Division patch, but all I could see is the letter 'D' without the 'Y'. Maybe it's a 1st Army patch?

[CW4AFB]

You'll have to pardon the quality of these shots because the pictures are both very big and under glass but I think you'll agree that they fit the bill of oversized patches---

 

I've handled a pretty good number of 80th Division patches since this is one of the areas they were drafted from and I can attest that this NCO is wearing a big patch...likewise the First Army Signalman's patch...

 

Al

[jeb137]

Are the patches oversized or the soldiers undersized? Do you have any pictures of "oversized" patches being worn in the same picture as someone wearing "regular" sized patches? Just a thought, might not be a good thought, but I own it.

 

Jon B

Newaygo MI

[David D]

David, I too thought it might be a Yankee Division patch, but all I could see is the letter 'D' without the 'Y'. Maybe it's a 1st Army patch?

If you look closely in the 1st closeup I can make out the Y inside the D. It's kinda fuzzy but if you look hard enough it's there

[kfields]

Not sure if this qualifies as "oversized" but it is somewhat larger than what I usually see in WW1 patches. As an example, I usually see the smaller, narrower 32nd patch on the left. I just assumed these larger patches were worn on the soldiers overcoats. But from the pictures shown, I guess that isn't the case.

Kim

[Chris Miller]

Is this ordnance patch considered oversized? Side note, I cant see to find anything to determine what div, inf, etc this this belonged to.

[BILL THE PATCH]

I would say it's oversized. Reminds of French insignia

 

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