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Unknown Airborne oval


Bill K
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Hi everyone,

To begin with the oval is hand embroidered with silk on some sort of woolen fabric with rice paper on the back and appears to be Japanese made. I've had this one for a while and I thought I had the ID nailed down. When I picked it up I was told by the seller it was some "4 digit outfit that operated in Korea". The only one I was able to find was the 2348th QM Airborne S&P Co. They jumped with the 187th and picked up the parachutes and containers after a jump.

 

That was fine until recently when I picked up another in a set that included an 11th Abn patch (US Made) and 2 sets of wings Para and Glider. This backdated the oval to the occupation period when the whole of the 11th Airborne Division was trained in Glider and Parachute operations. The seller obtained the set from the vets family but wouldn't give me any info on the vet, name or otherwise. Even after a letter about "losing history" he failed to budge.

 

As luck would have it, I was contacted buy the son of another Vet looking to replace some his fathers lost items from WW2. His father was in the 472nd Para/Glider Field Artillery Bn. He said the oval for that unit was black, yellow and red. As you can see it's not so much a red on the outside as orange. Could the orange just be a substitute for red or did the vet recall it as red rather than orange? Ater hearing from him I went back to my new set and realized the wings also tell a story. The Glider wing is US made while the parachute wing is a hand made and theater made. This would jive with the 472nd as they were Glider during the war and received parachute training during the occupation.

 

So the question is, does anyone out there have a positive ID for this oval?

 

Thanks,

Bill

post-359-1198709987.jpg

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Hi everyone,

To begin with the oval is hand embroidered with silk on some sort of woolen fabric with rice paper on the back and appears to be Japanese made. I've had this one for a while and I thought I had the ID nailed down. When I picked it up I was told by the seller it was some "4 digit outfit that operated in Korea". The only one I was able to find was the 2348th QM Airborne S&P Co. They jumped with the 187th and picked up the parachutes and containers after a jump.

 

That was fine until recently when I picked up another in a set that included an 11th Abn patch (US Made) and 2 sets of wings Para and Glider. This backdated the oval to the occupation period when the whole of the 11th Airborne Division was trained in Glider and Parachute operations. The seller obtained the set from the vets family but wouldn't give me any info on the vet, name or otherwise. Even after a letter about "losing history" he failed to budge.

 

As luck would have it, I was contacted buy the son of another Vet looking to replace some his fathers lost items from WW2. His father was in the 472nd Para/Glider Field Artillery Bn. He said the oval for that unit was black, yellow and red. As you can see it's not so much a red on the outside as orange. Could the orange just be a substitute for red or did the vet recall it as red rather than orange? Ater hearing from him I went back to my new set and realized the wings also tell a story. The Glider wing is US made while the parachute wing is a hand made and theater made. This would jive with the 472nd as they were Glider during the war and received parachute training during the occupation.

 

So the question is, does anyone out there have a positive ID for this oval?

 

Thanks,

Bill

 

 

Bill,

 

In Barry Jason Stein's book U.S. ARMY PATCHES, FLASHES AND OVALS

 

Plate 80 item # 17 is listed as 472nd Glider Field Artillery Battalion.

Assigned to the 11th Airborne Division during World War II.

 

Bill

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  • 12 years later...
101STCOLLECTOR
On 12/26/2007 at 11:05 PM, Bill K said:

Hi everyone,

To begin with the oval is hand embroidered with silk on some sort of woolen fabric with rice paper on the back and appears to be Japanese made. I've had this one for a while and I thought I had the ID nailed down. When I picked it up I was told by the seller it was some "4 digit outfit that operated in Korea". The only one I was able to find was the 2348th QM Airborne S&P Co. They jumped with the 187th and picked up the parachutes and containers after a jump.

 

That was fine until recently when I picked up another in a set that included an 11th Abn patch (US Made) and 2 sets of wings Para and Glider. This backdated the oval to the occupation period when the whole of the 11th Airborne Division was trained in Glider and Parachute operations. The seller obtained the set from the vets family but wouldn't give me any info on the vet, name or otherwise. Even after a letter about "losing history" he failed to budge.

 

As luck would have it, I was contacted buy the son of another Vet looking to replace some his fathers lost items from WW2. His father was in the 472nd Para/Glider Field Artillery Bn. He said the oval for that unit was black, yellow and red. As you can see it's not so much a red on the outside as orange. Could the orange just be a substitute for red or did the vet recall it as red rather than orange? Ater hearing from him I went back to my new set and realized the wings also tell a story. The Glider wing is US made while the parachute wing is a hand made and theater made. This would jive with the 472nd as they were Glider during the war and received parachute training during the occupation.

 

So the question is, does anyone out there have a positive ID for this oval?

 

Thanks,

Bill

post-359-1198709987.jpg

Hi

Are you interested on selling this oval?

Please,  let me know. 

 

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  • 8 months later...

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