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Uncommon and Obscure Combat Patches Being Worn.


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Alright! very good Red Leg, great photo, we see that the M14 is still in use, cool.

 

 

Absolutely correct. For our unit we had to attend the "Squad designated marksman" course in order to qualify to use those. They were rarely issued out, but we had I think 8-10 in the armory at any given time.

 

 

Dent

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@sean your KMAG Vet, while wearing a rather uncommon combat would be absolutly correct, the only thing really differant about KMAG during the war was the remodeling of the patch to include a White border, the orignial KMAG patch had an OD border, not sure but I read once somewhere it was changed from OD to White sometime in late 1952. The unit itself underwent official title redisignations, United States Military Advisory Group Korea, 8668th Army Unit in June 1950, then United States Military Advisory Group Korea 8202nd Army Unit, but as far as know it was always simply called KMAG by the men in the unit and in EUSA. this patch and I think tab, not sure on the tab, continuned to be used till sometime 1971, then the unit was again redisignated, this time as Joint United States Military Advisory Group Korea, a new tab JUSMAG-K was then used with the patch.

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Hmm, a very unsual patch, it looks period, and looks original to this IKE. Perhaps a most unofficial Island Base/garrison Unit patch, this is the only thing that I can think of, that it has a Western Pacific Command as a organizational patch would make some sense, here this guy and his unit were just brought under the overall command of WestPacComm post VJ Day.

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This one came out of a 1956 Fort Stewart AA Artillery And Tank Training Center Yearbook. I think SSI for any unit smaller than a brigade are fairly rare. Depending on whether this patch indicated service in WWII or Korea, it was either for the 36th Engineer Regiment or the 36th Engineer Combat Group.

 

Here is a history of what is now the 36th Engineer Brigade:

 

http://www.hood.army...6thHistory.aspx

 

And according to the Institute of Heraldry, the shoulder sleeve insignia was originally approved for the 36th Engineer Group on 3 June 2005. So I guess up to that point it was unofficial.

 

http://www.tioh.hqda...nit.aspx?u=3344

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Hmm, a very unsual patch, it looks period, and looks original to this IKE. Perhaps a most unofficial Island Base/garrison Unit patch, this is the only thing that I can think of, that it has a Western Pacific Command as a organizational patch would make some sense, here this guy and his unit were just brought under the overall command of WestPacComm post VJ Day.

Assuming it is authentic, maybe it's some sort of transportation or amphibious unit. The branch collar disc on the Ike looks like Transportation Corps. The anchor and device in the center hint at boats. It looks sort of like the 125th Transportation Command SSI. The stars resemble the Southern Cross that was common on patches of units that served in the South Pacific and may also symbolize some connection with the Americal Division. The sun at the top of the patch sort of reminds me of the SSI for the 40th Infantry Division. Both divisions served in the Philippines.

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Right sean, it a toughy, the southern cross angle was one I thought of as well, the sun, to me though the sun appears more like the Philippine sun, also the shape and base color, plus the 5 stars of the southern cross of this will temp one to associate it with the 1st Marine Division, but we shall have too see. Looking at that little shield dead center, it is come to think about it, in the branch colors or the TC, Brick Red-Gold=Yellow. On that branch collar disc, what is it? can you make it out? I,m finding hard to.

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Here's another 12th Army Group SSI being worn as a combat patch. Even though over a million men served under this organization in WWII, the number who wore this patch was probably relatively small, certainly no more than a few thousand and perhaps as few as a few hundred. I'm not sure what, if any, units were organic to an army group other than its headquarters staff.

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I was recalled to active duty from retirement in 2009. When I was deployed, I wore this as my combat patch for four days until I was called on it.

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Mike

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I was recalled to active duty from retirement in 2009. When I was deployed, I wore this as my combat patch for four days until I was called on it.

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Mike

 

HAHAHAHAH I LOVE IT! My combat patch was, and is, a Hajii made 25th ID patch. I kept getting flak for it because man, its really rough. I kept ignoring them though and that bad boy is still on my jacket. I love it.

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This is a immdiate post war 25th Inf Div, 4th Inf Regt guy, here we see the 98th Inf Div being worn, the 98th Inf Div showed up in Japan to perform occupation duty, so even though this Division never was in combat but held back in reserve in Hawaii, these men still wore this division as a combat patch, in this case though it is what is called a Wartime Service Patch.

 

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Here is another example of Wartime Service patch, U.S. Army Forces Middle East.

 

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And finally another Western Pacific Command item, this one a OD wool shirt, again we see a highly unsual combat patch. So this is the second Western Pacific Command uniform with a unknown patch worn as a combat patch, or more likey a Wartime Service Patch, since both are WestPacComm serving GIs post VJ Day perhaps they are as I thought, both unautherized patches for a Island Base/Garrison unit, any ASIMIC guys out there know what these are, or heard of anything like these?

 

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A Close up of the patch.

 

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I just want to say for the record that all these items can be found for sale at Snyders treasures, this is where I found them.

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Summer weight officers uniform with 8th AF for wartime service and 5th Army.The 5th Army was a reserve unit here in the midwest after the war.Wanted to post this before I list it in the FS section

 

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Thank's Doyler. One would be suprised to see the large amount of former WWII Air Corps Officers and Enlistedmen who did not switch over to the new Air Force Branch in 1947 but continued to serve in the Army, or reenlisted years after WWII ended but chose the Army instead of the Air Force to reenlist in, and that would also include reenlisting in the Army National Guard and Army Reserve instead of the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve.

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Thank's Doyler. One would be suprised to see the large amount of former WWII Air Corps Officers and Enlistedmen who did not switch over to the new Air Force Branch in 1947 but continued to serve in the Army, or reenlisted years after WWII ended but chose the Army instead of the Air Force to reenlist in, and that would also include reenlisting in the Army National Guard and Army Reserve instead of the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve.

 

I had some uniforms from a aircorps enlisted man who served post war here with the 34th division when it was a national guard unit.He went on to be one of the very first Iowa Army National Guard helicopter pilots in the 50s.His uniforms sported an unassigned air corps patch for his war time unit on the right sleeve and the red bull on the left

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This photo appears on page 64 of Shelby Stanton's "U.S. Army Uniforms Of The Korean War". The caption says that the guy on the left is BG Lawrence Dewey who was Chief of Staff of the IX Corps. I assume the patch on the right shoulder of his jacket is a combat patch but I can't figure out what it is.

 

His biography here indicates that all of his WWII service was with either the 1st or 2nd Armored Divisions:

 

http://www.arlington...net/lrdewey.htm

 

 

I believe that the patch + tab is for the UN Greek Batallion in Korea. I don't have picture of that at hand,will try to post asap.

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This is a immdiate post war 25th Inf Div, 4th Inf Regt guy, here we see the 98th Inf Div being worn, the 98th Inf Div showed up in Japan to perform occupation duty, so even though this Division never was in combat but held back in reserve in Hawaii, these men still wore this division as a combat patch, in this case though it is what is called a Wartime Service Patch.

 

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Keep in mind that what is commonly referred to as a "combat patch" really has nothing to do with signifying participation in combat per se. It really only represents service in a combat theater during wartime even though the wearer may have been hundreds or thousands of miles from the nearest shooting.

 

8th Air Force ground crew members who never left England still wore the 8th patch as a combat patch. Many soldiers who served on Pacific islands far from any real fighting were still eligible to wear a combat patch because they were serving in the Pacific Theater, not because they had been in actual combat.

 

I believe that soldiers serving in the Panama Canal Zone during WWII also wore combat patches because even though they were in the American Theater, their location was still considered to be a combat zone outside of the Zone of Interior.

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This is a immdiate post war 25th Inf Div, 4th Inf Regt guy, here we see the 98th Inf Div being worn, the 98th Inf Div showed up in Japan to perform occupation duty, so even though this Division never was in combat but held back in reserve in Hawaii, these men still wore this division as a combat patch, in this case though it is what is called a Wartime Service Patch.

 

post-34986-0-27397300-1359350550_thumb.jpg

 

Here is another example of Wartime Service patch, U.S. Army Forces Middle East.

 

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Not "in this case," but always. It was never a "combat patch," especiaily when it was first adopted by the Army in WW2. Its intent was to show the soldier's former wartime unit from his overseas (not necessarily in a combat zone, just overseas) service-- Hawaii, like Panama and much of Alaska, was overseas service and those soldiers based there in WW2 could wear their SSI on the right shoulder once they left their command.

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I believe that the patch + tab is for the UN Greek Batallion in Korea. I don't have picture of that at hand,will try to post asap.

 

You may be right 8240th AU. here is the Greek patch your're talking about.

 

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sean and atb, I agree, when I said in this case, it will mean that when one see's patches on the right shoulder for a unit of any size THAT was not in action at all, then in this case it will be considered a former wartime service patch really not a combat patch, though it's description is usually described as a "combat patch" on right shoulder, you know as well as I do there are people who will be scratching there heads as to why, say a unit like the 98th Inf Div is being worn when it never entered into combat against the Japanese. Now we have seen here a smattering of U.S. based units during WWII worn on the right sleeve on the forum, at least two I can recall, I'll have to look around a bit to see if I can find them.

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This photo appears on page 64 of Shelby Stanton's "U.S. Army Uniforms Of The Korean War". The caption says that the guy on the left is BG Lawrence Dewey who was Chief of Staff of the IX Corps. I assume the patch on the right shoulder of his jacket is a combat patch but I can't figure out what it is.

 

His biography here indicates that all of his WWII service was with either the 1st or 2nd Armored Divisions:

 

http://www.arlington...net/lrdewey.htm

 

Is is possible that it could be the 8081st AU ?

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I have already posted these pics in an older thread about two Ikes that popped up in a Paris vintage shop.

I assume this one would fit in this new thread.

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