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Uncommon and Obscure Combat Patches Being Worn.


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Re Post #174: Any info on NIX? I have a friend who was in the 5th RCT in Korea and was recently telling me that there have not been any more reunions since 2005.

The 1966 Command & General Staff College yearbook lists him as Edward J. Nix from Cleveland, GA.

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I saw my 5th RCT vet friend today and gave him a copy of the Nix photo. He said that he looked familiar, but the name didn't ring a bell. He thought Nix was a LT, in his Bn but not in his Co. He said he will check in his "old stuff" to see if he has anything.

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That there patch is the old Puerto Rican/Antilles Department of WWII.

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It has gone though a several redesignations over the many years since it was first activated as the Puerto Rican Department in 1942. Currently it is called the 65th Regional Readiness Command, and is a Componant of the Army Reserve, based on Puerto Rico, it's people are Puerto Rican Reservists. Back there in WWII, and into the late 40s however, it was a Regular Army organization, and had no affilation with Reserve or Puerto Rican personel other than a handful of them being with the various units of this organization, not sure when it was allocated to the USAR probably in the 50s sometime.

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I think the unit is part of the Peurto Rico National Guard?

 

That pic is the first time I've seen that patch worn on either ACU or Multicam. I troll ebay quite a lot for patches, and this one has never come up. Will be something cool to get eventually :D

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That pic is the first time I've seen that patch worn on either ACU or Multicam. I troll ebay quite a lot for patches, and this one has never come up. Will be something cool to get eventually :D

I believe up until the present war, for an SSI to be worn as a combat patch, the unit's headquarters had to have deployed into the combat theater. However, now when subordinate units deploy or when individuals are assigned as augmentees to units in a combat zone, they may wear their authorized SSI as a combat patch even if that command never deployed itself. I have personally seen the Military District of Washington being worn as a combat patch and thought that had to be an error until I discovered that a couple of the 3rd Infantry Regiment's companies had deployed to Africa as advisors. Rather than wearing the SSI of the Africa Command or other unit to which they were attached, they were authorized the Military District of Washington as their combat patch. I have also heard of, but not seen, some of the state National Guard Headquarters Commands and even the Field Artillery School being authorized as combat patches for service during the Global War on Terrorism.

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Re #189: This has been discussed previously here. The most egregious examples I recall were in the aftermath of ODS: ROTC Cadet Command, Recruiting Command, CID Comd, First Army, DCARNG and Idaho NG among them. THAT was because the bosses told the GIs to wear their OLD/Stateside patches as FWOS, because they (the bosses) were too confused to sort out the attachments and cross-attachments and OPCON-onlys prevalent then. The AG of Maryland ORDERED everyone deployed to wear "his" patch as FOWS -- including the SF people (who did not comply) and 58th Inf Bde people (mixed compliance); when he retired, the entitled people found other ones to wear, as per their attachments (1st ID, 1st Cav and VII Corps and an Eng Bde became common by 1995.,

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  • 2 weeks later...

The 1st Marine Division, from the September 1964 Army Info Digest, no idea at this time if the good Major is a WWII or Korean 1st Marine Div vet since he wears no ribbons.

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The XXIV Corps, an Artillery Officer, 1982, no doubt a he was a member of one of the Artillery Battalions, or on Staff with Corps Artillery HQ or Artillery of XXIV Corps Artillery.

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The 503rd PIR Rock patch as a combat patch worn by the CO of D Company 47th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division, Captain William J. Pfeffer, from the 1956 unit Yearbook of the Varsity Division.

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While not exactly uncommon and obsure, it is a great view of two officers wearing WWII Combat patches.

 

The first, is the 2nd Battalion 86th Infantry 10th Infantry Division CO, the Major, a XII Corps vet, was an Inf officer when this photo was taken in 1952, he must have switched branches post war, as he wears no CIB, all the other officer photographed have them if they were in WWII or the current war in Korea.

post-34986-0-77279600-1365873912.jpg

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The second is later, a 86th Infantry Division patch seen on the right shoulder of Colonel George H. Ried CO of 2nd Training Brigade BCT, Ft Polk Lousiana September 1967, by then Active Duty WWII vets officers and NCOs alike were getting scarcer and scarcer.

post-34986-0-70084300-1365873871.jpg

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Here's one that's different. This is ID'ed to a Field Artillery officer who was in WWII with the 353rd Field Artillery, later assigned to ETO HQ and performed liaison duty with the First French Army. This has overseas bars on the right sleeve, so I assume he stayed on or was recommissioned in the 1950's, and this is his coat from then. It will be interesting to research this one, if I can.

-- Jon

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VolunteerArmoury

It is a Reserve command out of P.R. We had two units from the P.R. First with the 13th ESC then the 103d ESC. They had a section in our G-5 & sections & a MCT all on Balad. While in Balad they initially wore the 13th when I got there then when the RIP/TOA occured they wore this SSI as current & often as FOWS but didn't see any wear the 103d ESC. Side note the 103d ESC is one I have the honour of wearing (even if many don't think highly of it but since it was the 103d Infantry Division I find it rather cool.)

 

 

 

That pic is the first time I've seen that patch worn on either ACU or Multicam. I troll ebay quite a lot for patches, and this one has never come up. Will be something cool to get eventually :D

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Jon, Saw that one when it was on the 'bay.....glad someone picked it up and reposted it here, didn't it come with his musette bag as well and some other small stuff?

 

Here's one that's different. This is ID'ed to a Field Artillery officer who was in WWII with the 353rd Field Artillery, later assigned to ETO HQ and performed liaison duty with the First French Army. This has overseas bars on the right sleeve, so I assume he stayed on or was recommissioned in the 1950's, and this is his coat from then. It will be interesting to research this one, if I can.

-- Jon

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Jon, Saw that one when it was on the 'bay.....glad someone picked it up and reposted it here, didn't it come with his musette bag as well and some other small stuff?

 

Yes, a named/numbered musette, a canteen he etched his name on while an LTC, and a few other uniform pieces. I wish it was a little more complete of a grouping, but it's still pretty cool -- I lived in France for a little while, so the 1ère Armée patch really caught my eye!

 

-- Jon

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Patchcollector

Not sure how obscure the patch is,but it being worn by this guy is uncommon ^_^ I would love to have his uniform!

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