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Uncommon and Obscure Combat Patches Being Worn.


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Here is a topic I started on this same patch after I saw a soldier wearing this as a combat patch:

 

http://www.usmilitar...a-combat-patch/

 

I thought it was odd at the time but like you learned that units of the Old Guard had deployed to Africa.

 

Isn't some of the old guard currently deployed to Africa or deployed within the last couple years?

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Sorry I'm late to this discussion, but going back to the first post the three brigades that composed the Americal division saw combat before and after the Americal came and went. Is it possible Staff Sergeant David Mitchell saw combat with the 11 LIB before tha Americal came into the picture? I was there at the other end when the Americal went home and left us there. We then had to wear the 196th LIB patch (in the rear anyway).

 

I had the pleasure of visiting the 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry Museum recently and saw a jungle jacket of a friend of mine. Americal on the right, 196th on the left. As he saw combat with the 196th, I'm guessing when he came home he wore the 196th on the right.

 

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Sorry I'm late to this discussion, but going back to the first post the three brigades that composed the Americal division saw combat before and after the Americal came and went. Is it possible Staff Sergeant David Mitchell saw combat with the 11 LIB before tha Americal came into the picture? I was there at the other end when the Americal went home and left us there. We then had to wear the 196th LIB patch (in the rear anyway).

 

I had the pleasure of visiting the 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry Museum recently and saw a jungle jacket of a friend of mine. Americal on the right, 196th on the left. As he saw combat with the 196th, I'm guessing when he came home he wore the 196th on the right.

 

215_Vga.JPG

 

 

Nice to see an original jacket with color / subdued patch combo.

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John J, the answer on Mitchell serving before in the 11th Inf Bde before the Americal Division was activated, will be no, the unit that formed the basis of the Americal Division was Task Force Oregon, a ad hoc formation formed in April 1967 that operated in Quang Ngai and Quang Tin provinces in I Corps, it had diverse elements that included the 1st Brigade 101st Airborne Division ( seperate) ( the rest of the 101 was still back in America ) the 3rd Brigade 25th Infantry Division, which in April 1967 was still operating independently from it's parent Division, this Brigade operated in the Central Highlands in II Corps in the 4th Infantry Division AO ( it sent one of it's Brigades to operate independely in the 25th Infantry Division's AO) the rest of the 25th Inf Div was down south in III Corps. The last unit was the 196th Infantry Brigade ( Seperate ) operating as a seperate Brigade since iot came over from Ft Devens in the late summer of 1966, the 11th Inf Bde was not as we see a part of Task Force Oregon, the 11th Inf Bde would arrive in Mid December 1967 from Schofield.

 

It was decided to make Task Force Oregon a permanent organization to operate in I Corps, so since it was a Division sized unit it was decided to reactivate a Division, so on 25 September 1967 Task Force Oregon was disbanded and with the units mentioned above was incorporated into the reactivated 23rd Infantry Division, as MACV was expecting the arrival of two seperate Brigades, the 11th Inf Bde and the 198th Inf Bde it was decided to put them in the Americal Division as it was called both officialy and unofficialy, as soon as these Brigades arrived in country. The first to arrive was the 198th Inf Bde from Hood in October followed by the 11th Inf Bde in December, the 1st Bde 101st Abn Div was relieved from duty with the Americal by the 198th Inf Bde and joined up with the rest of the 101st that was starting to arrive in III Corps from Campbell, then the 3rd Brigade 4th Infantry Division returned to control of it parent the 4th Inf Div, this last part is confusing to you right or is it? what happened to the 3rd Brigade 25th Infantry Division right?, well while the 3rd Bde 25th Inf Div was operating as a part of Task Force in August, it was decided to redesignate 3rd Brigade 25th Infantry Division as the 3rd Brigade 4th Infantry Division in order for it to fall in with the 4th Inf Div it was usually operating with back in the Central Highlands, but that a whole other story LOL. So the only remaining unit from the original Task Force Oregon was the 196th Infantry Brigade ( seperate ), it stayed on as we know and became an official part of the Americal along with the 198th and 11th Inf Bdes.

 

As to why Mitchell wears the 11th Inf Bde and not the Americal? Calley who is seen in loads of photo taken at Benning during his court martial IS wearing the Americal as a combat patch, while in the same period, his former subordinate Mitchell is wear the 11th Inf Bde, there are two reasons I think this is seen, 1. the wearing of the 11th Inf Bde and by extension the 198th Inf Bde as combat patches if seen, was done only by those men originally in these units when they came to Vietnam in late the fall-early winter of 1967, that it was an sanctioned alternative to the Americal combat patch, here Calley just decided to wear the Americal while Mitchell chose the 11th Inf Bde or 2. Mitchell goofed and was wearing the wrong combat patch all along, which one do you all think is correct, 1 or 2 :lol:

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Another gem, this one with the stateside AA Command being worn as a right side. Stateside unit it was, but was the AA Command patch worn by some unattached AAA units overseas? I seen the AA patch worn as a combat patch before, maybe it was worn by some AAA guys in the manner the Tank Destroyer Forces patch was worn? Since this has it's Discharge Badge on the Khaki, the first impression is coat wore by a Pacific Theater Veteran.

 

Of special extra interest is another odd ball patch, this time worn as an organizational unit patch, note that the Wheel is basicaly of the same style as the WestPacComm version combat patch Sean posted, Yellow with Red highlights, the other lacks the eagle.

 

post-34986-0-91923600-1359606717.jpg

 

And Left side patch close up. HMM this one I,m posting has the whole design with eagle, it also has along with it a cannon running diagonally underneath the main design, and some unidentifiable Blue design or symbol on it, and there the scroll' it's an odd looking scroll to be sure it is Red for alittle, alittle past the center then it turns White, it looks like there is something embroidered on the Red portion right? 35 or 3S II C, can't really tell this instant.

 

post-34986-0-38283000-1359606769.jpg

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I believe there were some units in the PTo that wore the AA as a combat patch, I have even seen a theatre made one with a airborne tab attached.

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I don't have photo evidence, but I do have a first hand account.

In 2010 in a chow hall in Afghanistan I spotted a full-bird Chaplain sporting a 1st Cavalry Division patch with an Airborne tab on his ACU's.

"Excuse me Sir, wanted to ask you about your patch"

*Annoyed look*

"Were you with them in Vietnam?"

"Yes, finally someone who knows I'm just not a chaplain who can't get his uniform straight!"

He had been an 18 year old draftee and later became a priest and chaplain.

Because of a shortage of Catholic Chaplains he had been recalled to duty. Although an O-6 Colonel, he was not considered the "senior chaplain"...but no one messed with him either.

 

41WFeqazocL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

 

Another interesting combat patch I've run into several times is the Military District of Washington Patch with the Honor Guard tab. Some of the "old Guard" were deployed to the horn of Africa around 04-05 (that's from my memory, so don't hold me to it).

 

a_combat_service_id_badge_mil_district_of_wash_w_hg_tab_81247_427.jpg

 

Also, at one time had a Motor Sergeant assigned to me that was authorized the Infantry School patch as a combat SSI....something to do with deploying on a mobile tech rep team or mechanic training team very early in this war....again, sorry for lack of actual pictures.

 

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Heres a tabbed Cav patch I have on a OG107 shirt

 

post-342-0-47850700-1359617574_thumb.jpg

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Here's the Iceland Defense Command being worn as a combat patch by Col. Dewey M. McKeown while serving as the Chief of Staff of the 101st Airborne Division in 1955. His bio in the basic training yearbook this came from indicates he served with the 118th Infantry Regiment from August 6, 1942 to January 14, 1946 in Iceland, England, Northern France and Germany. The 118th was the fourth regiment of the 30th Infantry Division when it was still a square division and was removed from division control and became an independent unit when the 30th was triangularized. Base on what info I can find about the 118th's service, it most likely served under several different commands overseas during WWII and a veteran probably had several option of which SSI to wear as a combat patch.

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I believe there were some units in the PTo that wore the AA as a combat patch, I have even seen a theatre made one with a airborne tab attached.

 

A Korean War Ike jacket with discharge papers sold on ebay about 6-8 months ago that had the AA Command and Airborne tab as a combat patch. The discharge papers stated the man had previously served in the CBI in a glider-borne unit.

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Alaska Defense Command worn by an artillery battalion commander of the 47th Infantry Division in 1951. Notice he has a World War I Victory ribbon.

post-1761-0-25482500-1359642906.jpg

post-1761-0-86097500-1359642913.jpg

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Unknown SSI worn by a soldier of the 47th Infantry Division in 1951. I'm going to try to re-scan it at a higher resolution.

 

Is it possible it is the SSI for the Military Forces, Japanese War Crimes?

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post-1761-0-22536000-1359650153.jpg

post-1761-0-35000800-1359651119.gif

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The following all came from a 1952 37th Infantry Division yearbook. Because they are headshots, some of the patches are partially obscured in the pictures.

 

1. Japanese Logistical Command. I'm not sure why this would be worn as a combat patch unless he served at a forward location in Korea.

post-1761-0-52365900-1359650508.jpg

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2. Ryukyus Command. The information I have seen says this patch was not approved until 1950, so I'm curious if it would have been authorized as a combat patch during the Korean War. It's possible this guy was a veteran of WWII and chose to wear this SSI instead of the unofficial one produced during WWII.

post-1761-0-93729200-1359650830.jpg

post-1761-0-93586500-1359650837.gif

post-1761-0-30457700-1359650870.gif

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5. Amphibious Forces or Engineer Special Brigade. Unfortunately because it is a black and white picture, it is impossible to tell if this patch is blue or red.

post-1761-0-59901400-1359651790.jpg

post-1761-0-28588900-1359651801.jpg

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6. X Corps with "Korea" tab. I believe the SSI is upside down on this uniform. The sources I have seen show the blue field should be on top and white on bottom. Is that correct? If so, is there any significance to it being worn this way or is it just a mistake?

post-1761-0-81724200-1359652189.jpg

post-1761-0-78128400-1359652199.png

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As to why Mitchell wears the 11th Inf Bde and not the Americal? Calley who is seen in loads of photo taken at Benning during his court martial IS wearing the Americal as a combat patch, while in the same period, his former subordinate Mitchell is wear the 11th Inf Bde, there are two reasons I think this is seen, 1. the wearing of the 11th Inf Bde and by extension the 198th Inf Bde as combat patches if seen, was done only by those men originally in these units when they came to Vietnam in late the fall-early winter of 1967, that it was an sanctioned alternative to the Americal combat patch, here Calley just decided to wear the Americal while Mitchell chose the 11th Inf Bde or 2. Mitchell goofed and was wearing the wrong combat patch all along, which one do you all think is correct, 1 or 2 :lol:

 

Thanks for the history lesson. I guess I assumed that because the 196th was in TF Oregon thay th 11th was also. I do know that the Americal cased thier colors and left the 11th and 196th with units in the field until well into 1972.

 

As for which is correct 1 or 2 I don't know, but I would guess 1.

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6. X Corps with "Korea" tab. I believe the SSI is upside down on this uniform. The sources I have seen show the blue field should be on top and white on bottom. Is that correct? If so, is there any significance to it being worn this way or is it just a mistake?

 

 

Great finds sean, I'm loving it, if I only had the means to scan photos I have in my many books and magazines I could contribute at least four to five of these seldom seen units as combat patches. On this X Corps vet above it is well known that during the Korean War, for whatever reason the CO General Edward Ned Almond mandated that the X Corps patch be sewn and worn with it's White portion on top, after he left Korea the habit persisted.

 

Here at least one topic that shows the reversed X Corps patch on a uniform , also there are quite a few photos in Stanton's Uniforms of the Korean War where we see X Corps reveresed.

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/19339-vietnam-us-navy-brown-water-shirt/

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Unknown SSI worn by a soldier of the 47th Infantry Division in 1951. I'm going to try to re-scan it at a higher resolution.

 

Is it possible it is the SSI for the Military Forces, Japanese War Crimes?

 

Sean,

FWIW, I do not think that's the right patch. Just my opinion, because it is pretty low-resolution and black and white, but to me, the patch in the picture has the following attributes:

* shield shape (that matches)

* the top edge looks to have 3 points (similar to a V Amphib Corps USMC patch, though this isn't one)

* top and bottom of field split roughly in half (very different from Japanese war crimes trials patch)

* the background of the top half is white or very light color (very different again)

* the object in the top half of the field is not 3 white stars (looks like writing, but that's just my opinion)

* the object in the bottom half has a very heavily centralized (in center of bottom field) design, as opposed to the very spread-out design of scales on the war crimes patch.

 

Another thing which could make me completely wrong (would not be anywhere near the first time) and you completely right is that we are looking at his arm in the picture at a rather oblique angle, which can change scale and appearance...

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post-34986-0-03064900-1359668377.jpg

 

Opitical elusion? To me it looks kinda like a patch with a tab over it, I know it's real hard to tell, but in the close up above it seems to be a gap, the gap seeming to be the light khaki color of the shirt.

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