Patches in action: Photos of SSI being worn by the troops.

[Ranger-1972]

Perhaps these officers earned the awards while serving under Patton during the war, and so the general is doing the presentations to 'his' soldiers.

[Ranger-1972]

2 hours ago, seanmc1114 said:

Engineer officer wearing a RANGER tab over the Seventh Army SSI.

Through at least the mid-1970s, all individuals graduating from USMA and all ROTC cadets accepting a Regular Army commission -- regardless of branch -- were required to 'volunteer' to attend Ranger School.  Didn't have to graduate, and most didn't, but they did have to give it a try.  When I went through Ranger School in the winter of 1972-73, I was the only combat arms officer in my squad -- the rest were QM, Engineer, Ordnance, Signal, MP, etc.  Began with seven platoons, each with four squads of Ranger candidates.  Graduated three platoons of three squads each.  This officer is airborne qualified and served in Vietnam.  No nametag, so I can't do a search for his career / assignments.  No former wartime SSI visible from his pose.

[seanmc1114]

The Institute of Heraldry approved a new design for the Virginia National Guard SSI this past September. Shown here are photos of both the new and old design.

 

https://va.ng.mil/News/Article/2794309/ceremony-introduces-new-virginia-national-guard-hqs-shoulder-patch/

 

 

 

 

 

 

[patches]

Pvt. William D. Gruber 1941 wearing the Air Corps Pin Wheel patch, Gruber was out in the Philippines in December 1941 don't know his unit or MOS, maybe a clerk or something, Gruber was captured and died from disease as a POW in the PI, he apparently was not marked or something, so after the war when the army reburied troops murdered by the enemy or died from disease and neglect as POWs at Cabanatuan Prison Camp went down as an Unknown till recently when DNA discovered his true identify

[patches]

Theodore “Ted” Paluch and Malmedy Massacre survivor wears the X Corps patch while serving in a unit under X Corps before X Corps ships out to the PTO, Unknown if Paluch's unit in the ETO, the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion fell under X Corps back in the states, that or Paluch was in a different Arty unit under X Corps, and was reassigned at one point to the  285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion before it ships out for the ETO.

[patches]

Another Pin Wheel Sighting.

 

Colonel Joseph L. Stromme Commander Portland Army Air Base 1941, Stromme started out in the Infantry in 1917 but soon transferred out and over to the Air Service, don't think he served in the AEF, he staying in the now Air Corps post WW, thus the Command wings.  Also getting indications he left the Army and became Assistant Secretary of War. 

[patches]

A shot of Elvis we never seen before, his separate SPEARHEAD Tab, seems to have an OD Border.

[patches]

And this one, 1968, a Nurse wearing a Full Color 4th Inf Div patch that looks like it's pinned on with a safety pin, no doubt her unit in the 44th Medical Brigade gives aid to the Ivy Division.

[patches]

Swinging 60s

 

No Patch in Action, but just didn't know where to post this find, a Nurse South Vietnam 1965 

[seanmc1114]

These photos are screenshots from official Army film taken while the photographer was attached to an infantry platoon of the 101st AIrborne Division on patrol in the A Shau Valley. The screen cards on the film indicate the date as April 1971. Notice one of the soldiers is wearing a 4th Infantry Division SSI. I'm guessing he was serving with the 4th ID when that division was redeployed from Vietnam in December 1970 and didn't have enough time in-country to return to the U.S. with the 4th, so he was reassigned to the 101st. Either he never had a new jungle jacket issued with the 101st SSI (unlikely), or he's wearing an old jungle jacket from his time 4th that he kept as a spare. 

 

The third photo is from the same film and shows an artilleryman on a firebase in the A Shau Valley. Note he is wearing the 4th ID SSI as a combat patch. 

[patches]

Some WWII ones tonight.

 

2nd Cavalry Division, 14th Cavalry.

 

 

[patches]

17th Airborne Division.

[patches]

Same GI.

 

ASTP

 

44th Infantry Div

[patches]

A Korean War Trainee in the 5th Armored Division Ft Chaffee Arkansas 1952.

[patches]

1st Logistical Command, Vietnam, 1965.

[patches]

11th Abn Div 1957 somewhere in Augsburg, outside a Bar right.

[patches]

12th Army Group as an Organizational one on a Master Sergeant Rudolph Kolenic, at Ft Sheridan Illinois, May 12 1945, these two, the other being one Corporal Richard Lockhart, unit he came from unknown, are being discharged, both have been overseas since 42, Kolenic obviously serving in another unit in 42-44 as 12th Army Group wasn't activated till July 1944 in England.

 

 

[patches]

Prairie Division Camp Forrest Tennessee 1941, troops of the 131st Infantry, which was transferred out and became a Separate Infantry Regiment, they didn't go overseas as a, unit, only it's 3rd Battalion does, it goes to England and becomes the 2nd Battalion 156th Infantry, 156th Infantry is another Separate Infantry Regiment, all the rest, inactivated February 1944 at Fort Benning Georgia, it's people no doubt sent overseas to the MTO and or PTO as individual replacements.

[seanmc1114]

Military Assistance Command Vietnam SSI worn by a tunnel rat of the S-2 Recon Section of the 168th Engineer Battalion during Operation Cedar Falls in January 1967. Interestingly, he is not wearing the SSI of II Field Force Vietnam to which the battalion appeared to have been assigned. It later served under the 20th Engineer Brigade as shown on the sign in the third photo from 1968, but that unit had not yet arrived in Vietnam. 

 

 

 

[seanmc1114]

Pathfinder of the 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam wearing a white on blue AIRBORNE tab with his 9th ID SSI.

[patches]

2 hours ago, seanmc1114 said:

Pathfinder of the 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam wearing a white on blue AIRBORNE tab with his 9th ID SSI.

9th Aviation Battalion no doubt.

[easterneagle87]

OK, so boarder line military, but this school has been around for years and is still in action. I believe this photo is from the 1930's. Nice studio portrait. 

 

Just recently, a posting was made to identify the patch. New Mexico Military Institute - NMMI. ROTC cuff badge. Un-named, so you wonder what role this cadet fulfilled in WW2.    

[seanmc1114]

Full color Infantry School SSI with AIRBORNE and RANGER tabs worn by members of the 1st Battalion 507th Infantry - the cadre of Fort Benning's Airborne Course - during a graduation ceremony last week (November 2021).

[seanmc1114]

On 10/17/2019 at 8:30 AM, seanmc1114 said:

Here's another anomaly. Major General Geoffrey Keyes raised and commanded the 9th Armored Division stateside from July to September 1942 before going to North Africa in November as deputy commander of the I Armored Corps under Patton. He remained under Patton as deputy commander of the Seventh Army during the invasion of Sicily and also commanded a provisional corps created ad hoc during that battle. Yet here is General Keyes wearing the 9th Armored Division SSI while talking with Italian Brigadier General Giuseppe Molinero at Palermo, Sicily, during the city's surrender ceremonies which would have been been July 22 0r 23, 1943. Why is he wearing the SSI of a unit that he had not served with in a year and which was still stateside?

 

Here's another couple of photos of Major General Geoffrey Keyes wearing the 9th Armored Division SSI while serving as Deputy Commanding General of the Seventh Army and ad hoc corps commander during the invasion of Sicily - July to AUgust 1943. That's MG Matthew B. Ridgway, commander of the 82nd AIrborne Division in the rear. The 82nd was part of the ad hoc corps Keyes commanded under the Seventh Army during the campaign.

[easterneagle87]

6 hours ago, seanmc1114 said:

Full color Infantry School SSI with AIRBORNE and RANGER tabs worn by members of the 1st Battalion 507th Infantry - the cadre of Fort Benning's Airborne Course - during a graduation ceremony last week (November 2021).

 

Looks more like a retirement ceremony with a plaque like that. Interesting that the frame shop put the Ranger tab above the CIB and not under the EIB. Yes, I'm just a nerd that way.