Uncommon and Obscure Combat Patches Being Worn.

[seanmc1114]

Another shot of Lieutenant Jay H. Mehaffey from the previous post. From the photo caption, as officer in charge of the Fort Worth Army recruiting station, Lieutenant Mahaffey is welcoming back Corporal Joseph A. Burgess, who is reenlisting in the United States Army. Corporal Burgess spent three of his five years with the Army as a Japanese prisoner of war. April 1946.

 

Also, it never ceases to amaze me how many former World War II POW's chose to remain in the military after their release from captivity.

[seanmc1114]

Technical Sergeant Ray McKinley, wearing a SHAEF combat patch, with his wife Gretchen August 1945.

[seanmc1114]

Theater made Merrill's Marauders - June 1945.

[JrBfloNY]

On 1/25/2013 at 11:08 AM, seanmc1114 said:

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

I wholly disagree, did you ever see how many Regimental Combat Team patches there are out there? Not to mention Regiments (III) in general & Chemical Mortar Battalions, quite a few of those, actually there's a lot. And they're smaller than a Bde. (X) Also have seen Company or Cavalry Troop patches that aren't "rare"

.......so it's not as rare an occurrence as some proclaim it to be.

[seanmc1114]

24 minutes ago, JrBfloNY said:

I wholly disagree, did you ever see how many Regimental Combat Team patches there are out there? Not to mention Regiments (III) in general & Chemical Mortar Battalions, quite a few of those, actually there's a lot. And they're smaller than a Bde. (X) Also have seen Company or Cavalry Troop patches that aren't "rare"

.......so it's not as rare an occurrence as some proclaim it to be.

I think you're missing the point of the post. Yes, there were approved SSI for many units smaller than brigade. Howwever, in most of those cases it is extremely rare to find photographic evidence of the insignia actually being worn. That can be for multiple reasons, the two main ones being (1) the limited number of individualts who would have been authorized to wear them based on the size of the units; and (2) the fact that in many cases the period during which they would have been worn would have been extremely short. Just as example, you ask have we ever seen how many Regimental Combat Team patches there are out there? Yes, I have. Now go find period photos of more than a handful of them actually being worn. I have been looking for years in reply to some of these threads in this forum. The fact is, many of the RCT were active for such short periods of time, you will not find photographic evidence the SSI were worn. I'm sure most were, but finding actual photos in many cases is near impossible.  

[JrBfloNY]

On 3/4/2013 at 10:32 PM, patches said:

This is Lieutenant Colonel Herald B Gallinger, CO of the 2nd Reconnaissance Squadron 9th Cavalry, 24th Infantry Division West Germany 1959, we see an obsure patch worn by Gallinger, after study, the only one I can find that matches this is the 115th Cavalry, in WWII the 115th Cavalry Wyoming National Guard was broken up, the only redesignated element to see action was the 115th Cavalry Group ( mecz) the other redesignated elements the 115th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron and the 126th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadrons seen no overseas service, So what were seeing is a 1950s pocket patch for the 115th Cavalry being worn by Gallinger as a combat patch, Gallinger most assuredly serving as a staff officer with the 115th Cav Gp during WWII, he appears to have Korean War service ribbons as well as more overseas bars than would of been allowed for service in WWII as the 115th Cav Gp was only in the ETO from January 1945 to October 1945, so another case of a soldier prefering his WWII unit as a combat patch rather then the one he was in during the Korean War.

 

 

The pocket patch of the 115th Cavalry.

 

I'm confused, you say that the 115th CRG saw action , then said they saw no overseas service then say they were in the European Theater of Operations which is clearly overseas. So.....?

To the contrary, I read that they did see combat in Europe. 1st Sqdn being 115th & 2nd Sqdn being 126th. But both belonging to the parent organization of 115th Regimental/Group HQ. Regt & Group being synonymous. CGM, CRG, MCG, ACR too, synonymous.

[JrBfloNY]

On 3/4/2013 at 10:32 PM, patches said:

This is Lieutenant Colonel Herald B Gallinger, CO of the 2nd Reconnaissance Squadron 9th Cavalry, 24th Infantry Division West Germany 1959, we see an obsure patch worn by Gallinger, after study, the only one I can find that matches this is the 115th Cavalry, in WWII the 115th Cavalry Wyoming National Guard was broken up, the only redesignated element to see action was the 115th Cavalry Group ( mecz) the other redesignated elements the 115th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron and the 126th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadrons seen no overseas service, So what were seeing is a 1950s pocket patch for the 115th Cavalry being worn by Gallinger as a combat patch, Gallinger most assuredly serving as a staff officer with the 115th Cav Gp during WWII, he appears to have Korean War service ribbons as well as more overseas bars than would of been allowed for service in WWII as the 115th Cav Gp was only in the ETO from January 1945 to October 1945, so another case of a soldier prefering his WWII unit as a combat patch rather then the one he was in during the Korean War.

 

 

The pocket patch of the 115th Cavalry.

 

 

Those who stayed with the 115th Cavalry became the 115th Cavalry Group, commanded by Colonel Garnett Wilson. In February 1945, they relieved the 15th Cavalry near the seaport of St. Nazaire, France, to hold pockets of German resistance. On April 25, the 115th was attached to the 103rd Division near Stuttgard in southwestern Germany. Once across the Danube River, the 103rd captured Landsberg (near Munich), the town in which Hitler wrote Mein Kampf. Near this town of 30,000, the elements of the 103rd liberated six concentration camps. They helped push south into Austria, alongside the famous 101st Airborne. Then they captured Innsbruck in the Austrian Alps on May 4 and, at Brenner Pass looking down into Italy, they met members of the U.S. 88th Division, who had fought hard up the Po Valley

 

 

Told ya so.

[JrBfloNY]

On 4/16/2013 at 4:22 PM, Patchcollector said:

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

Hail to the King, Baby! 

[JrBfloNY]

On 5/9/2018 at 8:40 AM, seanmc1114 said:

4th Cavalry Group, Mechanized

 

I've seen this one before, it's actually a color photo from a reenacting event very recently. So either he's a Vietnam vet who was with the fourth cav. Or he's in character as a WWII former fourt cav grp member & didn't want to put qn original on his uniform. I've only seen woven and woolen forms from WWII for the fourth cav. But the FE patch looks just like the 15th, 17th cav squadrons so I thought mine being a red border variant was from like 1946 or so, I've also read that it was from Nam, so now idk.

[patches]

9 hours ago, JrBfloNY said:

I'm confused, you say that the 115th CRG saw action , then said they saw no overseas service then say they were in the European Theater of Operations which is clearly overseas. So.....?

To the contrary, I read that they did see combat in Europe. 1st Sqdn being 115th & 2nd Sqdn being 126th. But both belonging to the parent organization of 115th Regimental/Group HQ. Regt & Group being synonymous. CGM, CRG, MCG, ACR too, synonymous.

It was only the 115th Cavalry Group, the two other units the 115th Cav Rcn Sq  and 126th Cav Rcn Sq  did not go overseas, the 115th inactivated at  Camp Polk Louisiana March 6 1945, the 126th inactivated at Fort Jackson South Carolina August 15 1944

 

Here is the sections from PAM 672-1 Unit Citation Campaign Credit Register July 1961, for the 115th Cavalry only the Group gets Campaign Credit, the 115th Squadron is not listed, same for the 126th, not listed.

[patches]

With the 115th Cav Group, it had under it the 104th Cav Rcn Sq and the 107th Cav Rcn Sq, thus the combat patch on Gallinger, the Group itself the HQ of the Group in all probability.  10 years ago when I posted this, I had a glimpse of this exact patch, Gallinger, is wearing it was sent to me by someone on the forum, but was told not to post it because it was copywrited or something, can't remember, 

 

 Gallinger on the other hand was an original Wyoming National Guardsman, says he was drafted, but that is no doubt an error.

 

https://www.newspapers.com/article/72815118/obituary_for_herald_gallinger/

[JrBfloNY]

On 9/29/2023 at 1:10 AM, patches said:

It was only the 115th Cavalry Group, the two other units the 115th Cav Rcn Sq  and 126th Cav Rcn Sq  did not go overseas, the 115th inactivated at  Camp Polk Louisiana March 6 1945, the 126th inactivated at Fort Jackson South Carolina August 15 1944

 

Here is the sections from PAM 672-1 Unit Citation Campaign Credit Register July 1961, for the 115th Cavalry only the Group gets Campaign Credit, the 115th Squadron is not listed, same for the 126th, not listed.

Mentions 115th CGM

[seanmc1114]

503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment worn in 1968

[patches]

Under it's recent designation, 77th Sustainment Brigade, a Combat Patch award ceremony, elmts of the unit were in Iraq in 2011.

[seanmc1114]

Command sergeant major of the 7th Infantry Division in 2022. The last time I'm aware that the 7th ID served in a combat zone was during the invasion of Panama in 1989. The 7ID is a headquarters element for various units at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, so it's possible some smaller elements that are authorized to wear the 7th ID SSI have deployed more recently. 

[patches]

Another 18th Airborne Corps DOM REP Combat Patch Sighting.

 

(This Up and over at Bay State Militaria and posted here with Chris' kind consent)

 

A Spec 4 of  a Quartermaster unit, TIOH has motto the 16th Quartermaster Battalion, can't find this unit must of dropped off the radar, or TIOH has motto for wrong unit. the Organization Of American States patch we worn as a Organizational one while the 18th Abn Corps is worn as the Combat Patch.

[patches]

Nothing truly Uncommon about a 29th Infantry Division Combat Patch being worn by a Soldier in 1961, but lets post it anyway.

 

Glover Johns West Berlin as C.O. 1st Battle Group, 18th Infantry 8th Infantry Division. Also of note is he's wearing the German BeVo Leadership Loops for the 18th Infantry.

[seanmc1114]

1st Marine Division combat patch, almost definitely from Vietnam, worn by a male drill instructor from a 1978 Fort McClellan WAC basic training yearbook.