Need help: Is this a Unit Insignia, or something else?

[Guest MrsWildBill]

I found this pin in my dad's things after he died. He was a WWII Army infantryman who fought in the Battle of the Bulge.

 

His name is engraved on the back, but by hand, and not a steady hand, so I don't know if it's from his service, his father's in WW1, or his forebears going back through the Confederacy, the Revolution, and then back into France--a direct line of combat veterans in every single generation that we have traced as far back as the 1500's in France, working on tracing it back before then.

 

First question: is this even a military pin? If yes, what does it mean? If no, what else might it be? Any help would be appreciated, as I haven't been able to find anything in image banks online.

 

Thank you,

 

MrsWildBill

 

[Allan H.]

This is the DI for the 376th Infantry Regiment.

 

Allan

[KurtA]

And in case you don't know what "DI" means, it stands for "Distinctive Insignia." Another term for Regimental Crest.

[patches]

And in case you don't know what "DI" means, it stands for "Distinctive Insignia." Another term for Regimental Crest.

Yeah I use DI all the time, but when in, unit crest was what we all used, in the Army back then as today, DI would been the Marines Boot Camp NCOs.

[atb]

Proper full Army nomenclature is Distinctive Unit Insignia, or DUI. "Unit crest" is the term I heard applied by soldiers throughout my Army career. I never heard "DI" being used to describe those insignia. As has been said, that means Drill Instructor to most.

[KurtA]

Yeah I use DI all the time, but when in, unit crest was what we all used, in the Army back then as today, DI would been the Marines Boot Camp NCOs.

 

Same here. It was "crest" when I was in the Army.

[doinworkinvans]

Moved to the DUI section

[Guest MrsWildBill]

Hello Curating Assistant--thanks for putting this in the right section for me. Being brand new on here, if I find other insignia type items I should post them in the DUI section, I take it?

 

Speaking of sections, if I have individual people I'm researching (dad, uncles, granddad), where's the proper place to start a thread on that? I started in new member introductions, but I'd like to do this right so I follow the structure in place that keeps everything organized.

 

Thank you so much for your help,

 

MrsWildBill

[Salvage Sailor]

Hello Curating Assistant--thanks for putting this in the right section for me. Being brand new on here, if I find other insignia type items I should post them in the DUI section, I take it?

 

Speaking of sections, if I have individual people I'm researching (dad, uncles, granddad), where's the proper place to start a thread on that? I started in new member introductions, but I'd like to do this right so I follow the structure in place that keeps everything organized.

 

Thank you so much for your help,

 

MrsWildBill

 

Aloha Mrs Wild Bill,

 

Welcome to our forum. As others have noted, the distinctive unit insignia (DUI) you posted belonging to your father is for the 376th Infantry Regiment, assigned to the 94th Infantry division in the European Theater of Operations in WWII. If you haven't found this yet, here is a link to the US Army Museum for the 376th Infantry Regiment which details their movements in 1944-1945.

 

https://armyhistory.org/376th-infantry-regiment/

 

In answer to your question regarding where to post research queries on individuals service and/or their units, this would be the best place on the forum

 

Individual and Unit Research

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/forum/88-individual-and-unit-research/

 

Our membership is very adept at ferreting out information on military service, good hunting.