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WW I Shoulder & Helmet Insignia of the 35th Division, AEF


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Photo No. 50: Two additional machine embroidered (bottom center & right) and two applique examples (top row) of the HQ Troop SSI are compared to the patch from the previous photo (lower left) that once belonged to Nathan Johnson.

 

Bottom center photo Courtesy of Griffin Militaria.com

All other photos courtesy of Advance Guard Militaria.com

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Photo No. 51: Every AEF Infantry Division had one reserve MG battalion that was attached to, and used at the discretion of Division HQ. These insignia representing the 128th MG Battalion are all composed of one green and three blue quadrants within a blue outer-ring. Clockwise from upper left, the insignia are window pane applique, circle and cross applique, and three machine embroidered examples.

 

Top left & bottom center photos courtesy of Griffin Militaria.com

All other photos courtesy of Advance Guard Militaria.com

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Photo No. 52: The final officially sanctioned blue-ringed Division HQ insignia is that of the 317th Bakery Company. The 35th Division bread baker’s insignia was comprised of a red, white, green and blue quadrant within a blue outer-ring. Two of the three SSI shown are of applique construction (left & right), while the third patch in the center combines both applique and chain stitching.

 

Left hand photo courtesy of Griffin Militaria.com

Center & right hand photos courtesy of Advance Guard Militaria.com

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Green Outer-Circle

35th Division Trains & Field Signals Battalion

 

The five 35th Division organizations listed on the March 27, 1918 division memo, whose insignia were to incorporate a green outer-ring were:

  • 110th HQ Train & Military Police
  • 110th Supply Train
  • 110th Sanitary Train
  • 110th Ammunition Train
  • 110th Field Signals Battalion

Photo No. 53: Major Carl Phillips, the chief surgeon of the 35th Division wears what looks to be a machine embroidered 110th Sanitary Train insignia, whose appearance is not unlike the example depicted in the inset.

Photo courtesy of the National World War I Museum

Inset courtesy of Griffin Militaria.com

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Photo No. 54: Maroon was the color prescribed for all four quadrants within the green outer ring that was decreed to be the insignia of the 110th HQ Train and MP. Three such shoulder patches, all of which are machine embroidered, and look as if they were made by the same vendor, are depicted here.

 

Left, center & right photos courtesy of Advance Guard Militaria.com

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Photo No. 55: This steel helmet bears the stenciled form of the all maroon and green outer-ringed 110th HQ Train and MP insignia.

 

Photo courtesy of Advance Guard Militaria.com

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Photo No. 56: The prescribed colors of the 110th Sanitary Train called for its insignia to be comprised of one green and three maroon quadrants within a green outer circle. The photos depicted are of two hand embroidered (lower left & center), and one applique constructed (lower right) 110th Sanitary Train SSI, as well as one painted interpretation of the insignia (top) as stenciled onto the side of a steel helmet.

 

Lower left hand photo courtesy of Griffin Militaria.com

Lower center and right photos courtesy of Advance Guard Militaria.com

Top photo courtesy of the USMC-RECON0321 collection

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Photo No. 57: This 35th Division steel helmet has been emblazoned with the insignia of the 110th Sanitary Train on both sides. The emblems on this particular helmet have been rendered in red and green, as opposed to the approved colors of green and maroon. Based on other examples of 35th Division helmet and shoulder insignia, the color red was frequently substituted for that of maroon. The color substitution was likely due to the unavailability of maroon thread or paint at the time the insignia was painted or manufactured. The purpose of the white symbol is uncertain, but it is thought to have been used to identify members of a nighttime trench raiding party.*

 

*For more information on 35th Division trench raider helmets see photo numbers 48, 137 and 138 of this post.

 

Photo courtesy of the USMCRECON0321 collection

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Photo No. 58: The design of the 110th Supply Train insignia called for one yellow and three maroon quadrants within a green outer-ring. This combination applique and hand embroidered example is made from green and maroon colored felt and metallic gold bullion thread on an olive drab wool backing cloth.

 

Photo courtesy of Griffin Militaria.com

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Photo No. 59: The colors selected for the insignia of the 110th Ammunition Train were one white and three maroon quadrants within a green outer-ring. Here, an applique felt on wool 110th Ammunition Train SSI is shown next to the same insignia as it was stenciled onto the side of a steel helmet.

 

Left hand photo courtesy of Griffin Militaria.com

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Photo No. 60: As previously mentioned, the color red was sometimes substituted for maroon when that color of fabric, thread or paint could not be obtained. Three variants of the 110th Ammunition Train’s insignia utilizing red are presented here. Two are of the window pane applique style (left & right) and one is hand embroidered (center).

 

Left & right hand photos courtesy of the Mccooper collection

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Photo No. 61: The SSI for the 110th Field Signals Battalion was made up of four green quadrants within a green outer-ring. The three shoulder patches are from left to right – window pane applique, applique, and hand embroidered.

 

Photos courtesy of Griffin Militaria.com

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White Outer-Circle

35th Division, Engineer Regiment & Train

 

Only two organizations within the 35th Division were authorized to wear a shoulder patch whose outer-ring was white in color. They were:

  • 110th Engineer Regiment
  • 110th Engineer Train

Photo No. 62: This unnamed Doughboy served with the 110th Engineer Train, 35th Division. This fact is borne out by the presence of the ‘T’ collar disc, prescribed for the enlisted men of each of the division train’s HQ, and by the 35th Division shoulder patch that featured one red and three white quadrants within a white outer-ring. It is also a rare example of a 35th Division shoulder patch whose backing cloth has been trimmed into the shape of a square rather than the approved circular shape.

 

Background photo courtesy of Bay State Militaria.com

Inset courtesy of Advance Guard Militaria.com

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Photo No. 63: An all-white quadrant and outer-ring, Santa Fe Cross insignia was authorized to be worn by the soldiers who served with the 35th Infantry Division’s, 110th Engineer Regiment. Clockwise from the top are – a stenciled helmet insignia, a hand embroidered SSI and two machine embroidered 110th Engineer Regiment shoulder patches.

 

Upper & lower right photos courtesy of Advance Guard Militaria.com

Lower left & center photos courtesy of Griffin Militaria.com

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Photo No. 64: An overall view of the 110th Engineer Regiment painted steel helmet from which the close up of its stenciled insignia that was shown in the previous photo came is displayed here.

 

Photo courtesy of Advance Guard Militaria.com

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Photo No. 65: The insignia of the 110th Engineer Train was identical to that of its parent organization, with the exception of the addition of one red quadrant within the confines of its white outer-ring. Here, two machine embroidered examples (left & center) are shown.

 

The color of the quadrants on the third example (right) have been reversed, i.e. one white and three red. It is not known if this was merely an error on the part of the insignia’s maker or if the color reversal was intended to represent an as yet, unknown sub-unit within the 110th Engineer Regiment or its accompanying train. This particular SSI was sewn onto a service coat which also had a ‘T’ for Division Trains HQ collar disc.

 

Left & center photos courtesy of Advance Guard Militaria.com

Right hand photo courtesy of the Dave Schwind collection

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Yellow Outer-Circle

35th Division, 69th Infantry Brigade

 

The insignia worn by all of the units belonging to the 69th Infantry Brigade were surrounded by a yellow outer-ring. Officially those units were:

  • 69th Infantry Brigade HQ
  • 137th Infantry Regiment
  • 138th Infantry Regiment
  • 129th MG Battalion

Photo No. 66: An unnamed rifleman is partially identified as being a soldier who served with the 137th Infantry Regiment by the presence of a machine embroidered example of that organizations shoulder patch … one blue and three yellow quadrants encircled by a yellow outer-ring. The inset depicts a similar machine embroidered 137th Infantry Regiment insignia.

 

Background photo courtesy of Bay State Militaria

Inset courtesy of Advance Guard Militaria.com

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Photo No. 67: The 69th Infantry Brigade HQ insignia was composed of four yellow quadrants within a yellow outer-ring. Here an applique example, made up of an olive drab wool window pane over yellow felt is shown next to a one that has been machine embroidered.

 

Right hand photo courtesy of Advance Guard Militaria.com

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Photo No. 68: Since it’s unclear if the fourth quadrant within the insignia painted on the side of this 35th Division painted helmet was intentionally left unpainted … or if the yellow paint applied to that quadrant has faded … or if another color of paint was meant to be added, but never was … I’m temporarily classifying it as belonging to 69th Infantry Brigade HQ due to the fact that the entire insignia may have been rendered in yellow paint.

 

Photo courtesy of the wolfbay collection

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Photo No. 69: Close ups of the above stenciled helmet insignia and of the insignia on the helmet that was twice stenciled and shown in photo number 14, earlier in this post. Although it’s unclear, both insignias are thought to represent the 69th Infantry Brigade HQ.

 

Left hand photo courtesy of Advance Guard Militaria.com

Right hand photo courtesy of the wolfbay collection

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Photo No. 70: The shoulder patch that represented the 137th Infantry Regiment was made up of one blue and three yellow quadrants within a yellow outer-ring. The examples shown are clockwise from top left: two applique shoulder patches, one of which was machine sewn (left) and the other hand sewn (right), hand or machine embroidered (?), hand embroidered and machine embroidered.

 

All photos courtesy of Advance Guard Militaria.com

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Photo No. 71: Overall view of a steel helmet stenciled with the 137th Infantry Regiment’s distinctive yellow and blue insignia.

 

Photo courtesy of Advance Guard Militaria.com

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Photo No. 72: Four examples of the 137th Infantry Regiment’s insignia as applied to steel helmets.

 

All photo courtesy of Advance Guard Militaria.com

 

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Photo No. 73: 35th Division veteran, Private Cecil Earl Russell of Company F, 137th Infantry Regiment bears the facial scars of a serious head wound he received during the Argonne campaign, and the wound chevron on the right cuff of his service coat that he was awarded for it. He also wears the insignia of the 137th Infantry Regiment on his left shoulder. In many instances, the single quadrant that was authorized to be blue in color was sometimes fabricated using an extremely dark blue, and occasionally, black fabric or thread, much like the example shown in the inset.

 

The lower right quadrant of this particular insignia appears to have been embroidered with a very dark blue, almost black, thread.

 

Background photo courtesy of the National World War I Museum

Inset courtesy of Griffin Militaria.com

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Photo No. 74: The shoulder patch shown in this inset is a bit of an enigma, due to the fact that the color of its four quadrants and outer ring, when combined, do not match any of the official color combinations that were adopted in March of 1918. The yellow outer-ring is indicative of a unit belonging to the 69th Infantry Brigade. While the quadrant colors could be those of the 137th Infantry Regiment. However, the prescribed color combination of one blue, and three yellow, have been reversed, and the color black has been substituted for that of blue … Given those two discrepancies, reaching the above conclusion is a bit of a stretch. A more likely explanation of this color permutation is that this insignia belongs to an organization within the 69th Infantry Brigade, but bears the incorrect outer-ring color.

 

Two of the Doughboys in the background photo are wearing shoulder patches comprised of a similar combination of yellow and black quadrants. Those insignia also appear to have a yellow (or other light color) outer-ring.

 

Background photo courtesy of the John Adams-Graf collection

Inset courtesy of Griffin Militaria.com

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