Operation Urgent Fury patches and badges - Grenada 1983

[Patchcollector]

Hi all,

 

Here are some Operation Urgent Fury patches,and a few badges,from my collection.

I picked this up to fill a hole from this era,as I did not have much stuff from the 80's.

All unofficial of course,but still a neat little group that I hope everyone will enjoy as much as I do.

 

BTW,the badges match the patches to the right of them.

[Patchcollector]

Back view.I took this photo a while back,but if I remember correctly,I believe all the patches are cloth backed,except maybe the upper right one.

[Patchcollector]

A little background info about Op Urgent Fury:

 

 

It was the early 80's.Vietnam was fast receding into Americas' collective memory,but there was still enough residual shock and anger over how the war in Asia ended.America needed a win,and a small island in the Caribbean called Grenada beckoned.Castros' Cuba had been playing around in the Island nation,backing a Marxist regime,and president Reagan was not going to let this happen.American citizens were there,so a rescue mission was organized and implemented.

Some called the operation a "clusterf**k",but it served several purposes.First,to restore Americas' prestige throughout the region and show the world that America stiil had the determination to fight,and a second,unintentional one was to learn from,and fix the problems that arose during the mission.

 

 

Some info I found online:

 

 

In October 1983, the attention of the United States was drawn to the Caribbean island of Grenada, where a military coup had just occurred. At the time, hundreds of U.S. citizens attended medical school on the island and President Ronald W. Reagan was concerned for their safety. After an official request from the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, President Reagan decided to intervene to protect the medical students, to restore democracy to the tiny nation, and to eliminate an ever-increasing Cuban presence on the island. The Department of Defense began to work on plans for an invasion, code named Operation Urgent Fury.

 

The U.S. joint task force formed to conduct the operation was led by Vice Adm. Joseph Metcalf III, the commander of the U.S. Navy Second Fleet. On his staff were U.S. Air Force officers Maj. Gen. Robert B. Patterson and Brig. Gen. Richard L. Meyer, who advised Admiral Metcalf on airlift and strategic and tactical airpower forces. The invasion plan called for U.S. Marines to assault the northern half of the island while the USAF would airlift U.S. Army soldiers onto the southern section of the island near the capital, St. George's. The invasion was scheduled for October 25. In preparation, the USAF deployed E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft and F-15 fighters to Puerto Rico, where, refueled by Strategic Air Command tankers, they patrolled the Caribbean Sea to forestall possible Cuban intervention. In addition, USAF strategic and tactical reconnaissance aircraft flew over Grenada to gather information on enemy forces and to locate the medical students.

 

While the Marine assault in the north met little resistance, the two battalions of Army Rangers airlifted to Point Salines near the capital by USAF C-130s faced a more daunting task. Air Force AC-130 gunships supporting the airlift observed construction equipment blocking the runway and alerted the inbound C-130s, causing the mission to change from an airlift to an airdrop of the Rangers. One C-130 was damaged by ground fire before the AC-130s could suppress the enemy fire. By the time the rest of the C-130s were ready to drop their troops, dawn had arrived and a well-prepared enemy waited.

 

Still, the first wave of airdropped Rangers managed to clear the runway, and C-141s and C-130s began landing and unloading troops and cargo. At the same time, the Rangers freed 138 medical students held at a nearby campus. However, resistance increased and more students remained trapped four miles behind enemy lines. The USAF also encountered difficulties with the short length and limited ramp space at Grenada's airports, causing many tanker and transport aircraft to use staging bases, such as in nearby Barbados.

 

To rescue the remaining hostages, the Rangers deployed from Marine helicopters supported by AC-130 gunships. As fighting diminished, USAF A-10 attack aircraft supported U.S. Marines who captured a suspected enemy base on the nearby island of Carriacou. By early November, all military objectives had been met and an interim government was established until a democratic government could be elected. In total, the USAF airlifted nearly 700 medical students out of the country, as well as 755 Cubans for repatriation to that nation. Overall, the U.S. Air Force supported Urgent Fury through a wide range of missions, including reconnaissance, close air support, troop and cargo delivery, casualty and evacuee transportation, air refueling, psychological warfare missions, and communications and air control.

 

When U.S. troops finally left Grenada, USAF aircraft transported at least 6,000 back to their home stations. As in other operations, the U.S. Air Force gathered important lessons from Urgent Fury, such as the need for adequate staging bases, better navigation equipment for its C-130 fleet, and, as the Point Salines drop demonstrated, the requirement of air superiority for a successful airlift. Indeed, Operation Urgent Fury convinced the USAF to continue its development of the C-17 transport, an aircraft that could function as a strategic airlifter but with the ability to take off and land from short fields. Overall, the invasion of Grenada was considered a success and historian Daniel L. Haulman noted, "The many missions that air power performed in URGENT FURY proved its indispensability in a future of joint contingency operations."

 

Capt Gregory Ball, USAFR, Ph.D.

[Patchcollector]

A cool photo I found and a link to many other Operation Urgent Fury photos:

http://www.militaryp...ury-Grenada-war

[spectre]

Nice group, I have a few of these, never had seen the pins before representing the two patches on the right. I have the EC War Games 1st place on my 82nd association jacket. I was with B co. 2/325 INF when this happened, we were the first ones down there after the Rangers jumped in. We were going to jump but they had the airstrip secure so we landed instead. The combat jump would have been something unique but since they had me lugging a live Dragon, I wasn't too disappointed that we landed.

 

Alan

[rr01]

Nice group, I have a few of these, never had seen the pins before representing the two patches on the right. I have the EC War Games 1st place on my 82nd association jacket. I was with B co. 2/325 INF when this happened, we were the first ones down there after the Rangers jumped in. We were going to jump but they had the airstrip secure so we landed instead. The combat jump would have been something unique but since they had me lugging a live Dragon, I wasn't too disappointed that we landed.

Alan

Aw c'mon. Out the door with a Dragon, what could be better...unless you were at the rear of the stick behind a guy tripping over his unfurling poncho ;-}

[spectre]

Aw c'mon. Out the door with a Dragon, what could be better...unless you were at the rear of the stick behind a guy tripping over his unfurling poncho ;-}

 

Haha, somehow I missed that little pleasure.

 

Pascal, those are some very nice graphics you put together, great job. And a pretty cool jeep too! You just need a B on there instead of an A.

 

Alan

[jdw14]

Those are some awesome patches! Does anyone know where I could get my hands on some? I've checked eBay pretty often, but I'm seeing some of them here that aren't over there.

[Patchcollector]

Those are some awesome patches! Does anyone know where I could get my hands on some? I've checked eBay pretty often, but I'm seeing some of them here that aren't over there.

 

They are'nt as easy to find anymore as one would think!Just keep checking on eBay,some will eventually pop up,I was blessed to get mine as a group,so I did'nt have to hunt each one down individually.

[jdw14]

 

They are'nt as easy to find anymore as one would think!Just keep checking on eBay,some will eventually pop up,I was blessed to get mine as a group,so I did'nt have to hunt each one down individually.

 

One reason I'm trying to get my hands on some is that I want to figure out where they come from--like who makes them. Patchcollector, since you have such an awesome group of them, you might be able to help me out. Any clues who manufactured or distributed them?

[Patchcollector]

 

One reason I'm trying to get my hands on some is that I want to figure out where they come from--like who makes them. Patchcollector, since you have such an awesome group of them, you might be able to help me out. Any clues who manufactured or distributed them?

 

 

Hmm,now that's a toughie.Being unauthorized,these were available for the most part through Army surplus and supply type shops during the 80's.

I was fortunate to find my group on eBay from a seller that got them back then.

They appear to be US made,but I'm not certain of that.

If you look online,you can still find some shops offering these patches.

Here is a link to one I found that is similar to mine,but is most likely plastic backed,as almost all newly made patches nowadays are.

http://hatnpatch.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=10559

 

Hope this helps

[jdw14]

Hope this helps

 

Hey man, this helps a lot! I appreciate your time!

 

If you get a minute or two one of these days, it would also help to know if any of your patches have any indication on them about who made them.

 

Thanks again!

[flashesandovals]

Here's a new one I recently picked up although I do not collect anything else than Army...

 

 

[Patchcollector]

That's a really nice patch.I've never seen that one.Very cool!Thanks for sharing it.I did a search for this unit and found out these guys have been to alot of hot spots including Nam,Lebanon,Grenada,and Panama.

Here is a Vietnam war era photo of one of their birds:

 

[Sgt_Rock_EasyCo]

 

 

So I'll refresh it a little

 

 

 

This one is very difficult to come by.

[Salvage Sailor]

Operation Urgent Fury - United States Navy 1983

 

USS INDEPENDENCE (CV-62) Air Group and Battle Group

 

 

 

 

USS MOOSBRUGGER (DD-980) and (HSL-34) Green Checkers DET 6, Grenada, 1983 - "The Moose Was Loose"

 

 

 

I have more US Navy Grenada patches somewhere around here in my collection

 

[Sgt_Rock_EasyCo]

[Sgt_Rock_EasyCo]

Found one of my targets!

 

Inbound by Tuesday 

[Sgt_Rock_EasyCo]

[Sgt_Rock_EasyCo]

There are only a couple more period patches I'd like.

 

 

 

[Ronald]

My brother was in Urgent Fury. Never saw any of those patches though.

[Sgt_Rock_EasyCo]

On 6/18/2021 at 11:21 AM, Ronald said:

My brother was in Urgent Fury. Never saw any of those patches though.

They were typically offered off post at surplus stores

[kfields]

Here is an Urgent Fury postcard showing 82nd MP's reviewing one of the weapons caches found. I see a couple 82nd MP brassards being worn.

 

[Sgt_Rock_EasyCo]

Yup, famous photo. 

 

Here's some less known.

 

 

[Sgt_Rock_EasyCo]

It may seem inane but this coin is rare. I had one but my daughter lost it when she was an infant. I found this replacement. The only other was in ebay for $595. Which may just be a tad over priced since I've seen it in sale for YEARS!