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1st Army colored insert patches


chuck locke
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21 hours ago, HOF said:

To me, this insert was originally orange but colored in to be red. The tell is looking on the verse. You can see clearly the orange thread (my purple arrows) on the edges. In some areas, you see the red bleeding through (my red arrows) to the white bobbin thread. 

 

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reverse 1st army.png

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Persian Gulf Command

OCS, I agree with your observation.

 

So, if OCS is correct, did someone take a legit 1st Army Aviation and ruin it by altering the edge color.  If so why and for what purpose?

 

 

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  • 1 year later...

An Iconic photo for those who know of it, a LIFE Photo from 1940. A 1st Army Soldier at an inspection, possibly Fort Devens, in his Wall Locker we see his other uniforms, one, probably his Class A coat with the Branch Colored 1st Army patch, it's a Light Color, so two guess off the top, either Infantry or Quartermaster. My question for a long time is which Infantry Regiment wore this 1st Army with Infantry Blue insert?

t1st_army_1940.jpg

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On 2/24/2021 at 10:52 AM, Persian Gulf Command said:

OCS, I agree with your observation.

 

So, if OCS is correct, did someone take a legit 1st Army Aviation and ruin it by altering the edge color.  If so why and for what purpose?

 

 

The AG office is red & black so maybe they were trying to go for that color combo? I think that there was a red/blue or blue/red combo too.

 

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On 12/25/2022 at 9:54 AM, mortaydc60 said:

Can anyone show a Tank Destroyer version of patch? Never saw one or does it even exist?

I have seen a bad attempt at a TD version. I would think that there is not due to this style of 1st Army patch was not around or being used anymore by the time that branch was stood up.

 

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After re-reading this thread and seeing what some of the prices that these patches have gone for, I wonder what they would go for now! Here is an older scan of some I picked up in the last ten years or so. Not all the ones I have, just an example of a few.

 

001.jpg

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  • 8 months later...

A Old Timer 1st Army MP out of Fort Hamilton Brooklyn on Duty in Manhattan on New Years Eve, December 31 1940.

 

Here we see the Military Police Insert.

1st mpp.PNG

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2 minutes ago, patches said:

A Old Timer 1st Army MP out of Fort Hamilton Brooklyn on Duty in Manhattan on New Years Eve, December 31 1940.

 

Here we see the Military Police Insert.

1st mpp.PNG

Full photo, teaming up with his Navy Counterpart, A Shore Patrol Chief Petty Officer out on the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

1st mp.PNG

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58 minutes ago, doughboy said:

Hi,

Who of you can tell me what branch is the 1st Army with yellow center and white border in post #60 - left one in the second row.

I think hink it's more orange than yellow. With the white, it's for Signal Corps.

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On 9/3/2023 at 12:11 PM, atb said:

I think hink it's more orange than yellow. With the white, it's for Signal Corps.

Had to get them out and scan them together. One is yellow with a white edge, and one is orange with a white edge. Orange is for Signal and yellow is for Finance. 

Scan_20230904 (3).jpg

Scan_20230904 (4).jpg

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Hi,

At first I also thought it's Finance. But let me know when I'm wrong - isn't Finance a white/silver  center with yellow border  ?

 

 

 

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Wow, I never saw such a patch and I didn't know  a 1st Army West Point color insert ever existed. Does someone of you know how many 1st Army branch of service colors have existed?

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  • 4 months later...
kiaiokalewa
On 2/22/2021 at 7:31 PM, kiaiokalewa said:

Being the Interwar nut that I am convinced that the examples made of wool applications are a hell of alot harder to find on the loose and I yet to find any on 1926 lapel coat.

IMG_20190526_073217493~2.jpg

Obscure color panels from the First Army branch series are difficult to come by and often not even known to the collecting community ie. Black over blue = Judge Advocate General; Black over Gold = General Staff Corps.  

This "Moss-Tone Green over Old Gold" is what I'd consider the HOLY GRAIL of the entire First Army patch series.  

 

Referenced in Littman & Sawicki's, History, Heraldry and Honors of U.S. Army Units, that covered their series published in the Trading Post from 1955-1959 (in specific Jul-Dec 1956, Chapter III: The Shield; Charges; Branch Colors) here we find our answer to what this First Army variation is representative of and it's definitely isn't the Military Police!

 

 

20240121_094606.jpg

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mortaydc60

Just a suggestion,might be easier and better understood if you say yellow center with green border. Leaves less room for interpretation. OK I'll ask what is holy grail branch moss green over gold? Thanks for the excellent information.

 

Mort

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Persian Gulf Command

Just a quick diversion here!

 

What are more difficult to locate for 1st Army SSIs, late 30's-early 40's Fully Embroidered on twill or on wool? I'm also asking about their value & price?

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kiaiokalewa

Aloha Mort,

 

Got the contemporaneous vernacular direction that you suggest so that there's nothing to be lost in translation on this ground break event.  But before plunging into the obvious, I'd like to make this pivot, into the Military Police variation and its yellow centered panel with green border, that happens to be the proper orientation for its branch colors. 

 

For decades now, it's been believed that the reverse color pattern (green centered panel with yellow border) was a simply a variation of the MP branch by default due to its similar yellow and green colors. However, I'm going to stray from this old "Patch Lore" and firmly go against the grain here. 

 

This recent fleshing out of the "Moss Green" centered panel with "Old Gold" bordered First Army patch anomaly correlates with the pre war developements of WAAC during May  1941, and ultimately into the WAC branch when it was officially authorized in July 1, 1943.  

 

The branch colors of the WAC organization is virtually unknown and happened to  miss the historic publication of the July 1943 issue of the National Geographic, that covered all authorized  Army branch colors standing at the time (see attached image). The WAC organization was only month old by the time that issue circulated and its inclusion into the branch color chart was totally abscent. 

 

The Women Army Corps  branch colors was Moss Green  with Old Gold piping*.

 

Returning back to the Green centered panel with Yellow bordered First Army patch variation, they were actually intended to represent the WAAC/WAC personnel that were attached to the First  Army circa. 1941-43.  The color green and yellow felt fabric used in the patch' construction was purely artistic licensing as seen in other interwar patches ie.  1st Cavalry Division, 24th Cavalry Division, etc...

 

So, what we here is another Interwar Patch Myth Busted and arguably one of the rarest of the series especially if the patch follows the prescribed colors of "Moss Green and Old Gold". 

 

* Border

 

PGC- in regards to embroidery on twill vs. wool types I couldn't venture to guess which is more desirable and worth more but I haven't hesitated to purchase the fully felt/wool appliqué types in the upper hundred dollar range when I stumble across them and that they are the lesser know examples.  

20240117_182951.jpg

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mortaydc60

Great information and you have proven your theory to me 100%. Makes perfect sense and when you think of the early WAC shoulder patches which were green and yellow further strengthens and adds more weight to your theory. Great work my friend.

 

Mahalo

 

Mort

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kiaiokalewa

Aloha Mort,

 

Glad that you can see through the weeds on this one.

 

For those that are still having a hard time believing the assertions that I've made just look at the images to follow. 

 

Discounting these visual facts would be too hard to say anything other than what I'm claiming.

 

A Hui Hou, 

 

John

 

Screenshot_20240123_152413_eBay.jpg

Screenshot_20240123_152420_eBay.jpg

Screenshot_20240123_152909_Chrome.jpg

Screenshot_20240123_153248_Chrome.jpg

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