Theater made DUI and patches

[Ray42]

Ive been lucky this last month to find some really facinating theater made DUI and a few nicer patches both as groupings and on ebay and I thought some of the more intresting ones would be worth sharing. Starting with the DUI I have managed to find 3 German made variations of the 18th infantry, vertical painted, horizontal pin enamel, and what I eagerly thought was an authentic single clutch back.

 

From an army surplus store I found 3 different variations of Japanese (I think) pins, 2 screw back and one painted pin back.

 

The European Civil Affairs is very interesting to me because I believe it is the only Italian made example I have ever seen, the blue enamel is very much darker then the german exmamples I have and it is a prong back which is a method which I thought only occurred in Italy. I would be interested in learning if anyone has seen a similar one.

 

The Indian made CBI and Persian Gulf command (Egyptian made I think based on the back) are pretty nice examples and I think it is interesting that the CBI has an error where the star is oriented the wrong way.

 

The Army ground forces pin is an interesting double screwback design that makes me unsure if it was made as a dui or for a lighter. The 347th is a cloth design that is most likely post war.

 

Last but not least the final CBI in the row is probably my favorite despite being damaged and missing most of it's red enamel, it is a hand made example with a lot of added detail. I will follow up with a better picture of just that one. It was found in a group that included the war time screw back and cloth Colorado Military School DUI and several other patches that will be in the next picture. I feel like despite being a military academy dui the cloth one is interesting because it shows the effects of the war on resources where they no longer had the metal to make insignia.

[Ray42]

To my frustration I am finding that the picture size was reduced when I attached it and I apologize for the poor quality that it caused, if anyone wants a better picture of any of the pins just ask and I will be happy to post a close up of just that DUI.

[Ray42]

Up next are the patches, the Indian made CBI, torch, and commander patches all came from the same CBI grouping. I am not sure what either of the last two patches are for but I assume they are ROTC patches of some sort. The torch is a surprisingly nice embroidered felt example and the comander one has a neat bullion boarder that will probably be lost in the picture posted.

 

Next I found a pretty neat Chinese Aviation Cadet patch. I am not really sure if it is really "american militaria" but it was made in the US for Chinese pilots who were being trained in the US durring WW2 so I think it is close enough to be acceptable on this forum.

 

Finally there is a nice Japanese bullion Ryukyu Command patch.

 

Thanks for looking!

[No Quarter]

Really nice!

[Wake1941]

The torch patch is ROTC Im pretty sure, and the commander tab is Legion/Veterans piece

[Ray42]

Thanks for the info Wake I had assumed the torch was ROTC although I am a little surprised by the Commander being a Legion piece. Now that I know what to look for I see you are right, I am still surprised that they made such an attractive bullion bordered one.

 

I have decided to start posting better pictures of some of the better pins since the group photo turned out so bad. Hopefully this one shows all of the finer hand engraved details in the areas the CBI that would be white.

[Ray42]

The Italian made Civil affairs compared to a lighter blue German made example. Also a better picture showing the screw back and cloth Colorado Military school. The cloth one was found with the ribbon bar pinned through the bottom which I think is neat.

[Ray42]

The two enamal 1st cav DUI that I beleive are Japanese made. Intrestingly despite having been a matched pair they are not the same designs because the horse is pretty clearly different on both pieces. The one on the right also is slightly smaller but noticably heavier then the larger example to the right.

[Wake1941]

CMS is a school/academy as well

[Ray42]

CMS is a school/academy as well

 

Thanks, for pointing that out because I never explicitly said it. I believe that the Colorado Military School (CMS) still exists today as the Colorado Military Academy, although they use a different insignia currently.