Flash and Ovals ID's

[patches]

Just now, patches said:

549th QM CO U.S. Army Japan. A Chief Warrant Officer 3 wears this patch, WO not identified, but he is a Escort Officer at Clark Air Base Philippines who is with former POW Chief Warrant Officer 2 James Hardy Hestand in February 1973. But he seems to be wearing the Green Bordered Oval rather then the Grey Bordered one.

The full photo.

[MPage]

On 1/2/2023 at 10:35 PM, patches said:

549th QM CO U.S. Army Japan. A Chief Warrant Officer 3 wears this patch, WO not identified, but he is a Escort Officer at Clark Air Base Philippines who is with former POW Chief Warrant Officer 2 James Hardy Hestand in February 1973. But he seems to be wearing the Green Bordered Oval rather then the Grey Bordered one.

 

 

 

Are these all the same?  According to the net, in the '50s and through Việt Nam the 549th was always in the Far East.  Maybe the oval was used by at least one other QM unit in ZI?

 

 

[MPage]

On 7/15/2019 at 1:42 PM, sigma9r said:

Folks,

I have this oval listed as the Quartermaster Rigger. Can anyone confirm this and, if so, which version it is?

 

Thanks,

 

Wiley Winter

 

 

I have it as "Cadre, Aerial Delivery and Field Services Department US Army Quartermaster Center and School, Type 1".

 

[468abnarm]

This design is what is referred to as Type 2 generic Quartermaster. It has been worn by many QM units both RA and USAR as either an expedient till the unit got a "unit specific" design or simply as the unit oval as it was readily available. Hope this helps.

[468abnarm]

On 2/27/2023 at 1:27 PM, MPage said:

 

Are these all the same?  According to the net, in the '50s and through Việt Nam the 549th was always in the Far East.  Maybe the oval was used by at least one other QM unit in ZI?

 

 

What you most likely have here is a shirt from a member of the QM CO that supported airborne elements on Fort Campbell. Can't recall exact unit designation and era off hand. Will dig through my references and post later.

[468abnarm]

The Lighter Side of Flash & Oval collecting.

 

[mbec]

Hi all. I know nothing about flashes but I've had these for a while. When I use my google lens they all come up 5th special forces group. Maybe you all could help me with an I.D. or let me know if they are even legit. Thanks Mark

[doyler]

18 minutes ago, mbec said:

Hi all. I know nothing about flashes but I've had these for a while. When I use my google lens they all come up 5th special forces group. Maybe you all could help me with an I.D. or let me know if they are even legit. Thanks Mark

 

 

 

The 5th Grp with skull is a reproduction and has been around for over 25 years in various forms. Replicates flash attributed to SOG in Vietnam that was unofficial. These flashes were sold by several of the military catalogs in the past like Lancer Militaria, HJ Saunders etc back in the 1980s and 1990s and still are being generated out of Asia in various forms. Yours shows the typical computer generated stitching of modern copies.

[mbec]

Hi all. I know nothing about flashes but I've had these for a while. When I use my google lens they all come up 5th special forces group. Maybe you all could help me with an I.D. or let me know if they are even legit. Thanks Mark

Thanks Doyler. Do you know anything about the other two?

[greendevilsix]

The TIOH has released the newly approved Flash and Oval for 1st Brigade, 11th Airborne Division.

[patches]

On 5/2/2023 at 1:28 PM, greendevilsix said:

The TIOH has released the newly approved Flash and Oval for 1st Brigade, 11th Airborne Division.

Are the WWII-50s Era 11th Abn Div HQ Ovals being reinstated would you know?

[McChizzle]

On 5/2/2023 at 1:28 PM, greendevilsix said:

The TIOH has released the newly approved Flash and Oval for 1st Brigade, 11th Airborne Division.

I wonder why the 11th Airborne Division's 1st IBCT was authorized an organizational flash and trimming for they are not airborne, only the division headquarters and 2nd IBCT(A) are airborne. I know the division had plans to turn the 1st IBCT into an air assault brigade, but air assault units are not authorized organizational flashes.

 

Does anyone know if 1st IBCT is getting redesigned as airborne or maybe just the brigade headquarters is?

[AHR]

hello all 

i notice the flash # 149 is miss named 

its marked as 58 cav.  it should be  158 cav.

AHR

 

[468abnarm]

Interesting Flash and Oval!

 

[468arm_abn]

Does anyone have a second reference to support this identification?

Black outer border, yellow-gold inner border, & brick red center.

[McChizzle]

16 hours ago, 468arm_abn said:

Does anyone have a second reference to support this identification?

Black outer border, yellow-gold inner border, & brick red center.

 

It resembles the former beret flash for the 172nd Infantry Brigade, 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment, Battery C.

[cavcon]

1 hour ago, McChizzle said:

 

It resembles the former beret flash for the 172nd Infantry Brigade, 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment, Battery C.

The entire 172nd Brigade was not airborne.  I thought only the infantry Regiments had 1 company, (Charlie Co.), that was airborne and they wore the blue and white oval with the stars.   

[McChizzle]

2 minutes ago, cavcon said:

The entire 172nd Brigade was not airborne.  I thought only the infantry Regiments had 1 company, (Charlie Co.), that was airborne and they wore the blue and white oval with the stars.   

 

I don't know about there background trimming/oval, but they all had beret flashes in the 70s when they wore the olive-drab beret.

[cavcon]

Only the Charlie Companies of the 172nd infantry units wore the oval and they also wore maroon berets, not the OD ones.  That guy in the photo you posted name is Krewson, he was not A/B ever.  I am sure you know that many non-A/B units wore different color berets back in the mid-70's, 

[cavcon]

Here is the flash from the 37th FA

[McChizzle]

On 4/4/2024 at 7:46 AM, cavcon said:

Only the Charlie Companies of the 172nd infantry units wore the oval and they also wore maroon berets, not the OD ones.  That guy in the photo you posted name is Krewson, he was not A/B ever.  I am sure you know that many non-A/B units wore different color berets back in the mid-70's, 

 

I know. The best way I know how to try and identify that background trimming is to look at the list of beret flashes I have put together to find a match, given many flashes mimic the ovals airborne units where. There was a lot of strangeness in the 70s, so I am keeping an open mind as to what unit that oval could belong to.

Other possibilities is that it could be an early version of a background trimming for:

• The 782nd Maintenance Battalion--later designed the 782nd Brigade Support Battalion--of the 4th IBCT, 82nd Airborne Division
• One of the airborne anti-aircraft artillery battalions from back in the day
• C Battery, 4th Battalion, 11th Artillery Regiment

References:

- https://www.military-insignia.us/Pages/SpecOpsInsignia/ParachuteWingOvals/Ovals-Support.html
- https://www.military-insignia.us/Pages/SpecOpsInsignia/ParachuteWingOvals/Ovals-Artillery.html

 

[cavcon]

Gotcha.   Thats a pretty good reference too.   Good luck, I’d be curious what you come up with.  

[468arm_abn]

Thanks to all for the feedback.

You need a road map to keep track of the "Alaska Airborne" elements including the 171st & 172nd. There were more than just Charlie Airborne elements depending on the era. Find attached just 3 of the 33 sheets of mine that track  "Alaska Airborne" covering 1958-Present.

Again, Thanks

[McChizzle]

On 4/8/2024 at 4:54 PM, 468arm_abn said:

Thanks to all for the feedback.

You need a road map to keep track of the "Alaska Airborne" elements including the 171st & 172nd. There were more than just Charlie Airborne elements depending on the era. Find attached just 3 of the 33 sheets of mine that track  "Alaska Airborne" covering 1958-Present.

Again, Thanks

 

I would love to see your other pages on Alaska beret flashes for I am confused by some of them. How definitive is your information (i.e. what do you use as an authoritative source for these flashes and ovals)?

[468arm_abn]

On 4/11/2024 at 7:17 PM, McChizzle said:

 

I would love to see your other pages on Alaska beret flashes for I am confused by some of them. How definitive is your information (i.e. what do you use as an authoritative source for these flashes and ovals)?

Excuse the delay in getting back to you on this as I have been out of town and just got back this morning. Give me a chance to get caught up and I will send all the 

"Alaska Airborne" sheets I have excluding the current 11th Airborne Division information as I have not yet included them in that file. As for my references, in my 50 years of collecting I have accumulated scores of books, news articles, military journals, monographs. as well as having  the Chute & Dagger and Trading Post publications for the past 30-50 years. I also use the IOH website on an almost daily bases for a lot of my references also.