"Phil. Dept. US Army Aides to the Phil. General Staff" Patch

[FriscoHare]

 

Hi everyone,

 

A fellow forum member, all-bull, and I wondered if anyone knew what this patch was for. It sold recently on eBay for a whopping $290! The seller claims that it may have been for "Phil. Dept. US Army Aides to the Phil. General Staff." In my few years of collecting Phil. Dept. patches, I have never seen anything like it.

 

Here are my hypotheses as to what it might be:

 

In reading the listing, the seller says it might be for the "Philippine Department... Aides to Philippine General Staff."

 

1) If this were true, the patch would have dated back to 1935-1941 when the Philippine Department loaned officers and non-coms to the Philippine Army to advise and train said commonwealth forces.

 

The symbolism is there: the Sea Lion of the Philippine Department on an upside down US shield. The bald eagle is also holding two olive branches, probably symbolizing a peacetime mission. The oval is also about the same size as the Philippine Department patch oval.

 

2) This patch could also be a post-WWII patch denoting that the solider was a member of the Phil. Dept. and was loaned to the Philippine Army as an adviser during the interwar period.

 

3) Or it could be a post-war patch for US Army advisers to the newly-independent Philippine General Staff.

 

In 1947, the Philippine Sea Lion patch became the insignia for the Philippine-Ryukyus Command (PHILRYCOM) in Manila. This patch could be for the PHILRYCOM advisers to the Philippine Army General Staff.

 

IMHO, given the patch's material and its look, I think that might be for Hypothesis #3. Not sure though...

 

 

Does anyone know for sure what this patch is? Any info will be greatly appreciated!

[vintageproductions]

The seller was Bill Wise of the Soldier's Trunk military auction.

You could very easily contact him and ask where he got the id.

[FriscoHare]

Thanks, Bob! I emailed the seller and this is what he had to say:

 

"this came in an old collection and that was how it was IDed but I could never learn any more info on it so decided to let it go... Bill"

 

Does anyone have any other info on the patch? Why did it go for so high?

[2Dogs]

Looks like a U.S. Navy Ship patch to me.

[all-bull]

Out of curiosity (because I don't collect Navy patches, other than VN era), what characteristics would make this look like a Navy patch?

 

Looks like a U.S. Navy Ship patch to me.

[2Dogs]

Out of curiosity (because I don't collect Navy patches, other than VN era), what characteristics would make this look like a Navy patch?

If this is an Generals Aide patch, the shield wound not be upside down. Aides wear a coller insignia of a shield with blue at the top with white stars denoting the rank of the General they are assigned to. Also the blue field with the sealion at the bottom looks to be the ocean. This is my SWAG and I have been known to be wrong.

[Argonauts2]

Sean, did you ever ID this patch? J

[FriscoHare]

I did a Google image search and when I saw the photo, I was like "Oh! I know that patch!" So I click through, and found out I originally stated this thread haha.

 

To answer my 9-year younger self, this was most likely, this was worn by the Army Aides to the U.S. High Commissioner to the Philippine Islands, if it was worn at all.

 

The design is inspired by the Seal of the U.S. High Commissioner to the P.I. Basically, the High Commissioner was the U.S. President's representative (think ambassador) to the Commonwealth of the Philippines.

 

 

Judging by its construction, this was probably made right after WWII. If worn, it would have been in use from 1945-1946 when Paul V. McNutt served as the High Commissioner.