Post The Pre War 1920s-30s Unit Crest Being Worn

[mysteriousoozlefinch]

1 hour ago, patches said:

That will be the 1st Separate Infantry Battalion (Colored) New Jersey National Guard and it had it's own DI in the 30s, a one with a Tiger Head with a 1 on a scalloped shield with a scroll with motto SANS PEUR (Can't find a image of it), but this DI on their hats is not that, so it does indeed look like one of the types of DIs for the 372nd Infantry, as the 1st Sep Inf Bn (Clr) was consolidated into the reactivated regiment 12 December 1940 and was stationed for awhile at Camden before it was federalized in March 1941.

 

The DI looks like this version no? It's described s a GEMSCO Pin Back (No other images of it are available anymore).

 

That is indeed the one I was talking about.

[mysteriousoozlefinch]

WVU ROTC DI in 1940 on the two right hand men, from the WVU archives.

[patches]

Here's one, sometime in the 1930s, a Reservist of the 310th Infantry, 78th Division from New Jersey. He's Captain Thomas B. Protzman MC, and I assume either the regimental surgeon or one of the battalion''s of the regiment's surgeon. Protzman was called to active duty in 1940 and would be by late 1942 a Lieutenant Colonel and given command of the United States Army Hospital Ship Acadia (Wasn't aware the Army ran Hospital Ships, knew they ran Minesweepers and Transport Ships but not Hosptal ones).

[patches]

An Unknown DI worn sometime in the mid-sh 20s on the then 1st Lieutenant Kenneth Walker, Walker would go on to be a Brigadier General in WWII and would be awarded the Medal of Honor Posthumously in the Pacfic. So anyone know what DIs these are, tried the Bomb units he was in in this period but came up zero.

 

 

 

[seanmc1114]

Soldiers of the Hawaiian Division wearing DUI's of the 21st and 35th Infantry Regiments

[seanmc1114]

12th Cavalry Regiment

[seanmc1114]

Soldiers of the 33rd Infantry Regiment in Panama - 18 February 1940.

[seanmc1114]

1932 Summer encampment of the Albany Guards, Company H, 121st Infantry Regiment, Georgia National Guard at Camp Clifford J. Foster, Florida. Note that some officers are wearing the 121st Infantry DUI facing to the right while some wear it facing to the left.

[seanmc1114]

Col. John M. Morgan, the commanding officer of Ft. Brown, Texas wearing the number 12 on his Cavalry branch insignia. However, the DUI does not look like the 12th Cavalry DUI to me. You decide.

[seanmc1114]

Colonel Joseph Becker, commander of the 174th Infantry Regiment of the New York National Guard's 44th Division, in 1937.

[seanmc1114]

This is actually from 1941, but I think it's very interesting. Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. wearing the DUI of the 26th Infantry Regiment and his son, Quentin, wearing the DUI of the 33rd Field Artillery Battalion.

[seanmc1114]

On 7/3/2020 at 11:34 AM, seanmc1114 said:

Col. John M. Morgan, the commanding officer of Ft. Brown, Texas wearing the number 12 on his Cavalry branch insignia. However, the DUI does not look like the 12th Cavalry DUI to me. You decide.

Thanks to Wailuna for identifying this as the first design of the 12th Cavalry DUI.

[patches]

The late great Jamas Sawicki when he was a little Private in 1938, he was then an Artilleryman with the 6th Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Division, Fort Hoyle Maryland, he later switched to Infantry, and fought as a officer in Italy with the 168th Infantry, 34th Red Bull Infantry Division, and in the Korean War in the 9th Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division.

[patches]

On 6/13/2020 at 8:14 PM, patches said:

An Unknown DI worn sometime in the mid-sh 20s on the then 1st Lieutenant Kenneth Walker, Walker would go on to be a Brigadier General in WWII and would be awarded the Medal of Honor Posthumously in the Pacfic. So anyone know what DIs these are, tried the Bomb units he was in in this period but came up zero.

 

 

 

DI Effectively IDed as 2nd Bombardment Group. Langley Field Virginia.

 

[seanmc1114]

12th Cavalry Regiment 1st Cavalry Division. This is the second and current design of the DUI approved for the regiment.  

[seanmc1114]

Members of the Texas National Guard during President Roosevelt's visit to Fort Worth on June 12, 1936. I believe they are wearing the DUI's of the 144th Infantry Regiment. Was it common practice for enlisted men to wear the DUI's on their collars like that?

[seanmc1114]

First Sergeant Napoleon McClure of Headquarters Company, 90th Infantry Brigade, 45th Infantry Division, at Camp Barkeley, Texas. March 1, 1941.

[seanmc1114]

2nd Cavalry Regiment 1936

 

 

 

 

[seanmc1114]

124th Cavalry Regiment (l) and 144th Infantry (c) - 1939. I'm not sure what the one on the right is.

[seanmc1114]

120th Engineers. 1941

[patches]

The 1st Cavalry Fort Knox Kentucky, like June 1940 as seen on this July 40 LIFE Cover, in July the unit the 1st Cav was in, the 7th Cavalry Brigade was juuust being expanded into the new 1st Armored Division.

[patches]

Here's a find, and something I was totally unaware of.

 

Unknown Infantry DIs being worn in the late 20s, maybe the 11th Infantry?, the young officer? his name is Douglas C. McNair, and he is the son of Lesley J. McNair, that's right the General who was killed in that horrific friendly fire incident in Normandy July 25, 1944, unbelievably his son, now a Full Colonel is KIA on Guam with the 77th Infantry Division less then 2 weeks after him, August 6th.

[patches]

1 minute ago, patches said:

Here's a find, and something I was totally unaware of.

 

Unknown Infantry DIs being worn in the late 20s, maybe the 11th Infantry?, the young officer? his name is Douglas C. McNair, and he is the son of Lesley J. McNair, that's right the General who was killed in that horrific friendly fire incident in Normandy July 25, 1944, unbelievably his son, now a Full Colonel is KIA on Guam with the 77th Infantry Division less then 2 weeks after him, August 6th.

https://www.westpointaog.org/memorial-article?id=9fdfdbe3-0c7f-4d82-a295-d94b30f5cd05

 

https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/130004

[patches]

19 hours ago, patches said:

https://www.westpointaog.org/memorial-article?id=9fdfdbe3-0c7f-4d82-a295-d94b30f5cd05

 

https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/130004

My Deep Background Operator haunting the halls of the old War Department Building informs me that young McNair's Infantry assignment was 1928-1930. He was with 12th Infantry rather then the 11th Infantry, 12th Infantry was at Fort Washington, Maryland then, 12th Infantry was in the 4th Division. He also goes on to note the at the time young McNair was a Shavetail, his father, then a Lieutenant Colonel, was a student attending the the Army War College, and that he believes the son's transfer in 1930 from Infantry to Field Artillery was influenced by his father being of  Field Artillery.  

 

[mysteriousoozlefinch]

Major Hamilton P. Ellis wearing the 15th Coast Artillery insignia in 1940 from the Honolulu Advertiser.