Help With WW I First Army Shoulder Patch

[world war I nerd]

For years I've had this photo which displayed an unidentified First Army shoulder patch.

 

Because of what's taking place in the image, I always assumed that the patch was Ordnance Department related.

 

 

[world war I nerd]

Yesterday, I noticed another photo of the same officer, wearing the same shoulder patch on page 38 of the Schiffer book titled, "Organization & Insignia of the American Expeditionary Force 1917-1923.

 

The caption of the photo read: "Lieutenant George Bishop and Sergeant Edwin H. Janzer of the Field Ammunition Office, Ordnance Department, First Army prepare detonators, Stenay, France, January 1919."

 

The good news is that that First Army patch is now identified as being that of the First Army Field Ammunition Office (whatever that is).

 

The bad news is that I can't quite figure out what the patch design is or the colors in which it was composed.

 

Does anyone have an example of this patch or a photograph of it that they can post?

[world war I nerd]

I'm currently, well actually, almost done, putting together a post for the forum on WW I era AEF First Army shoulder insignia and would very much like to include an image of this particular insignia or be able to create a graphic.

 

The problem is, as mentioned above, I cant quite figure out the colors or the exact design.

 

Attached are three possibilities - I'm looking for either a confirmation on which of the three designs posted below, if any, is correct or opinions on which of the three designs looks the closest.

 

I'd really like to hear all opinions.

[world war I nerd]

Here is an extreme, albeit blurry, close up of the patch from the Schiffer book. It appears to have a darker inverted triangle below the white triangle. Is this just a shadow caused by the folds of the sleeve or is it actually a part of the insignia?

 

Thanks for opining on what this insignia may or may not look like.

 

World War I Nerd ...

[militariaone]

Greetings Nerd,

 

Here are your two patches in better resolution. You can definitely make out the bottom pointing triangles.

 

Best,

 

Lance

 

[world war I nerd]

Militariaone, Thanks for literally and figuratively clearing thing up!

 

I'm assuming you used Photoshop to clean up the images?

 

I have Photoshop, is that a relatively easy process to accomplish?

[militariaone]

No, just have the images at much higher res:-)

[militariaone]

Here's one more from the same Stenay series that shows 1st Army SSIs.

 

Best,

 

Lance

[world war I nerd]

Having identical images at higher resolution certainly explains how you managed to post the same, only much sharper images.

 

Thanks again for that and for the above photo.

 

Now if I can just figure out what the "Field Ammunition Office's" duties were ...

[David D]

The one on the left appears to have a triangle under it while the one on the right has a square. Maybe company designation?

[world war I nerd]

Thanks to Militariaone, this looks like the winning candidate.

 

I should explain why the colors white over red were selected for the respective triangles. White was chosen for the upper triangle because it is, well ... white in both of the period photographs. Red was chosen for the inverted lower triangle for two reasons.

 

The first being: that in December of 1918, First Army, HQ approved 14 different insignia designs, all of which, except one were composed of either red, or red & white, to be the official insignia of the First Army. Thus, all of the First Army Ordnance, Artillery & Ammunition related shoulder patches were made up of either red or red & white

 

The second being: that there was another First Army - Ordnance/Ammunition/Artillery related shoulder patch that has been tentatively identified as belonging to one of the First Army's Ammunition Trains. It was made up of a point-down, white triangle centered on a red rectangle which was positioned between the legs of a black, block-letter "A".

[gomorgan]

Brian keep up the good work, I'm learning something every time I look these over...George