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9th Infantry Division Jungle Jacket With Recondo Patch


seanmc1114
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Very cool. I had seen this JJ for sale at the time but regrettably missed out.

Here's the link to one I posted here last month of a 9th ID, ARVN ERDL shirt with a cool arrowhead reconplatoon pocket patch to the E company, 2nd Battalion, 60th Infantry.

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/298029-2-battalion-60th-infantry-9th-id-recon-platoon-arvn-erdl/

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  • 1 year later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Here is a page from Col. David Hackworth's book "Steel My Soldiers' Hearts" where he discusses the origins of the Recondo Brigade and badge.

 

I know this is an old post but personally I would not consider Hackworth to be a reputable source on anything historical.

 

He had a bad habit of embellishing his stories and leaving out any portion that didn't glorify him, personally.

 

Certainly Hackworth was a skilled writer and entertaining to read. But I wouldn't rely on Hackworth's statements about his own service without double-checking publicly available records first.

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  • 7 months later...

Here's a photo I just ran across of a soldier of the 6th Battalion 31st Infantry wearing the Recondo pin, albeit without the word FIRST on it.

post-1761-0-36719600-1565969457.jpg

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Working off Longhorn's tip, we know now the GI covered in mud is the 1st Bde 9th Inf Div CO.

 

He's John Geraci a Brooklyn N.Y. boy

 

Here's two more of him

 

attachicon.gifaac56d8454f5955d307bcf5692a75946.jpg

 

This other view of the first photo in the boonies.

 

attachicon.gifnwsAPR07_Geracir.jpg

 

And this one of him in 1965 at Campbell with the Screaming Eagles.

 

Interestingly he was in WWII in the Marine Corps and seen action with them in the Pacific, I think he was a Ground Crewman in the 1st Marine Air Wing (1st MAW).

 

Here's his BIO, it a three pager.

http://www.currahee3-506.org/History/Col.%20J.P.%20Geraci%20-%20Part%20One.htm

 

Here is the caption for the picture of Col. Geraci covered in mud: “Col John P. Geraci, cdr 9th Inf Div, 1st Bde, waits for rescue helo. Hit while trying to evacuate a seriously injured platoon leader, miraculously none of the craft's eight passengers and crew were killed.”

 

This photo is from the same incident where the colonel is covered in mud. The caption is undated but reads: “Col John P. Geraci, 9th Inf Div, 1st Bde Cdr, and CPT Robert Kayzer, Bde Asst Intel Off, dash for a rescue ship after enemy shot down the C&C helo.”

post-1761-0-71968400-1566308797_thumb.jpg

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  • 4 weeks later...

The 1st Brigade of the 9th Division in Vietnam was the "Recondo" Brigade and used the recondo emblem. Nobody went to a recondo school. When the 1st Brigade pulled out of Vietnam in the summer of 1969 the 6th of the 31st was moved to the Third Brigade and lost the emblem as they became part of the orphan Go Devil Brigade.

post-6574-0-70912500-1568774222_thumb.jpg

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  • 2 years later...
On 9/17/2019 at 10:37 PM, Niner Alpha said:

The 1st Brigade of the 9th Division in Vietnam was the "Recondo" Brigade and used the recondo emblem. Nobody went to a recondo school. When the 1st Brigade pulled out of Vietnam in the summer of 1969 the 6th of the 31st was moved to the Third Brigade and lost the emblem as they became part of the orphan Go Devil Brigade.

post-6574-0-70912500-1568774222_thumb.jpg

I ran across this photo that suggests the 3rd Brigade incorporated the Recondo Badge into its insignia. I don't have a date on this, so I'm not sure if it was before or after the rest of the division left Vietnam leaving only the 3rd Brigade to operate independantly. 

Recondo Badge.9th Infantry Division.2-60th Infantry.jpg

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Here are a couple of period plaques that incorporated the badge. The second plaque to Captain Ator, if authentic, shows the badge was being used as early as October 1968.

Recondo Badge.9th Infantry Division.Plaque.1.jpg

Recondo Badge.9th Infantry Division.Plaque.2.jpg

Recondo Badge.9th Infantry Division.Plaque.3.jpg

Recondo Badge.9th Infantry Division.Plaque.4.jpg

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Some period pieces of insignia. The last three incorporate the Go Devil, suggesting the badge was used by the 3rd Brigade 9th Infantry Division also.

Recondo Badge.8th Infantry Division.Various.2.jpg

Recondo Badge.8th Infantry Division.Various.jpg

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 I don't remember ever before seeing the Recondo arrow linked to the Go Devil Brigade Devil image. I was with the 6th of the 31st after the battalion had been transplanted from the 1st Brigade  into the remaining 3rd Brigade after the 1st and 2nd Brigades were withdrawn from Vietnam.  Incidentally the 3rd Brigade, from the pull out in mid 69 became operational under the 25th Division but continued to operate independently as still  9th Division using the 9th patch and Brigade Go Devil.  Nobody wanted anything to do with a 25th Division image for various reasons.  There is a facebook page of Division veterans where some will argue that the then bastard 3rd Brigade was not actually entitled to call itself 9th Division as there was no 9th division after mid 69.. 

 

Guys I knew who had been in the first brigade often still had the Recondo arrow badge patches and pins on hats or personal uniforms for as long as they were in Vietnam. 

That photo I posted of the sign with Lt.  Col. Logan as commander of the 6th of the 31st was of the sign as it existed when the 6-31 was part of the 1st Brigade.  By the way, Col. Logan is the last remaining battalion commander of the 6-31 and turned 90 last year.  

 

I'll ask around about the linking of the Recondo badge with the Go Devil image.  

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1 hour ago, Niner Alpha said:

 I don't remember ever before seeing the Recondo arrow linked to the Go Devil Brigade Devil image. I was with the 6th of the 31st after the battalion had been transplanted from the 1st Brigade  into the remaining 3rd Brigade after the 1st and 2nd Brigades were withdrawn from Vietnam.  Incidentally the 3rd Brigade, from the pull out in mid 69 became operational under the 25th Division but continued to operate independently as still  9th Division using the 9th patch and Brigade Go Devil.  Nobody wanted anything to do with a 25th Division image for various reasons.  There is a facebook page of Division veterans where some will argue that the then bastard 3rd Brigade was not actually entitled to call itself 9th Division as there was no 9th division after mid 69.. 

 

Guys I knew who had been in the first brigade often still had the Recondo arrow badge patches and pins on hats or personal uniforms for as long as they were in Vietnam. 

That photo I posted of the sign with Lt.  Col. Logan as commander of the 6th of the 31st was of the sign as it existed when the 6-31 was part of the 1st Brigade.  By the way, Col. Logan is the last remaining battalion commander of the 6-31 and turned 90 last year.  

 

I'll ask around about the linking of the Recondo badge with the Go Devil image.  

This image appears to have come from the 1969 2nd Battalion 60th Infantry yearbook produced while the battalion was in Vietnam. I am attaching a link to the website where I found it.

 

http://recon2-60.mysite.com/2d__battalion__60th__infantry__a.htm

Recondo Badge.9th Infantry Division.2-60th Infantry.2.jpg

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4 hours ago, seanmc1114 said:

I ran across this photo that suggests the 3rd Brigade incorporated the Recondo Badge into its insignia. I don't have a date on this, so I'm not sure if it was before or after the rest of the division left Vietnam leaving only the 3rd Brigade to operate independantly. 

Recondo Badge.9th Infantry Division.2-60th Infantry.jpg

I knew the officer in the center looked familiar. That's LTC James J. Lindsey, commander of the 2/60th Infantry. He later went on to command the 82nd Airborne Division, the United States Army Infantry School, the XVIII Airborne Corps, the United States Readiness Command, and was the first Commander in Chief, United States Special Operations Command. He earned the Distinguished Service Cross while commanding the 2/60th and retired as a full General.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_J._Lindsay

 

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  • 4 months later...
  • 1 year later...

That picture is of my father (SSG Randy Carpenter) shaking hands with Admiral John McCain, Jr. (father of the late senator). It was sometime in 1968.

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On 10/13/2021 at 5:42 AM, seanmc1114 said:

I ran across this photo that suggests the 3rd Brigade incorporated the Recondo Badge into its insignia. I don't have a date on this, so I'm not sure if it was before or after the rest of the division left Vietnam leaving only the 3rd Brigade to operate independantly. 

Recondo Badge.9th Infantry Division.2-60th Infantry.jpg

This is picture is of my father in law (SSG Randy Carpenter) shaking hands with Admiral John McCain Jr. in 1968 sometime. My father in law was a Platoon Leader, as an enlisted, due to the high attrition rate of the 2/60th. He presented Admiral McCain with a captured AK-47 he got when they were out on night ambush.

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  • 8 months later...

A Specialist 4th Class William Burner, Burner formally of A Co 2nd Battalion 39th Infantry, Burner, he may be a Sergeant E-5 Type when he sat for this, wears the unit Arrowhead on his Khakis at his next duty station, I would think he's now some kind of Cadre Inductor at some Basic Training Post as he not wearing the Blue of a TO&E Infantry Unit, but go figure, he is wearing either a French or Belgian Rope.

william burner a 2nd 39th.PNG

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