Maine ARNG? ID help needed

[rufus_firefly]

I have been told that this SSI is a Maine ARNG pre-WWII patch but have been unable to find it. Any help will be appreciated.

 

Don

[Steverino]

I have been told that this SSI is a Maine ARNG pre-WWII patch but have been unable to find it. Any help will be appreciated.

 

Don

 

 

Don,

 

This is just the opinion of someone who specializes in NG patches, but I am 99.99% certain that the patch you illustrate is NOT a military patch at all. First of all, there were no ARNG HQ patches before WWII. The NG units wore the NG divisional patches for their NCBUs, in the case of Maine it would have been the 43rd Div if I recall. (Someone please correct that if I'm wrong.) Further, except for the 41st Div, there were no NG pre-war patches that had Merrowed borders.

 

It has been my experience that unscrupulous and/or ignorant dealers will slap any ID on an unidentified patch - usually souvenir type patches - in the hopes of selling it as an "undocumented" version of a unit.

 

Patch Johnson

[J_Andrews]

Before the adoption of State HQ Det SSIs -- from late 1940s to late 1950s -- the non-divisional personnel wore the GHQ or Army (area) SSIs.