WWII guidon for 169th Infantry

[mmerc20]

I just found this at an antique mall in Little Rock, AR. This guidon is from E Company 1-169th Infantry, 43rd Infantry Division. It is in nice condition with a few pinholes. What appears to be a stain is not one. It got wet when I was bringing it inside through the rain. It has a Quartermaster Depot tag but I can't make out a date.

 

I have just started looking into the 169th history but what I can see right now is they participated in Guadalcanal and the Solomons. If anyone has more information on them, and specifically E Co. please let me know!

 

Mike

[mmerc20]

closeup

[David D]

Nice!

[raylemere]

awesome!

[Steve B.]

I believe this is a post-WWII guidon.

 

Under the WWII Table of Organization, E Company would have been part of 2nd Battalion (A, B, & C Companies were 1st Battalion, E, F, & G Companies were 2nd Battalion, etc.); plus WWII guidons did not normally carry the battalion designation.

 

I'm not sure exactly when the change occurred (late 1950s, I think), but the Army changed their method of designating units, and after the change, every battalion had an A B, C, D, & E Company. Other changes happened, but those changes varied with the unit.

 

I will say that I was with an Army Reserve Unit in the 1980s, and even though we were 1st Battalion, we had A, B, C, D, and E Companies. At that time, the local National Guard unit had A B, C, CSC (Combat Support Company), and HHC (Headquarters and Headquarters Company) all in the same battalion. CSC was later changed to D Company.

 

Anyway...all of this to say that in my opinion, this guidon could be from the 1950s through the 1980s, maybe even a little later.

[mmerc20]

Hmm...Any idea when they stopped using the "quartermaster depot" tags? I thought they were 1940s. I wish I could see a date though. That would certainly help.

[Pudgy (V)]

Awesome for display!!

[atb]

The guidon dates from as early as 1959-1960 when the Army adopted the Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS). Infantry regiments were no longer tactical units, but were converted to seperate battle groups (BG), later battalions (BN) of the regiment. Each BG or BN had an A, B, C, D, and etc. company. The BG or BN designator was added to the organization colors and company guidons.

[mmerc20]

Thanks for the information. I really appreciate it.

[atb]

One other thing, the lineage of the CARS 1st Battalion, 169th Infantry is derived from Comany A of the pre-1959 regiment. The lineages of the companies in a CARS battalion mostly started new. That means that the E Company represented by your guidon has no relation to the earlier pre-CARS regimental E Company.