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

[seanmc1114]

166th Regimental Combat Team

[JerseyDevil117]

32nd RCT Skull patch being worn over the name tape and 7th ID SSI.  From a album i sold a couple years back 

[patches]

Winthrop  Rockefeller in 1941, he's wearing one of those interwar Narrow Big Red One patches.

 

On January 22, 1941, he enlisted as a private in the Army, while the United States was still neutral during World War II. He was initially assigned to the 26th Regiment of the 1st Infantry Division. He was later assigned to the 77th Infantry Division. He eventually rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. With the 77th Division he served in the invasions of Guam and Leyte in the Philippines. He earned a Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Clusters and a Purple Heart for his actions aboard the troopship USS Henrico, after a kamikaze attack during the invasion of Okinawa. His image appears in the Infantry Officer Hall of Fame at Fort Benning, Georgia.

[seanmc1114]

Motor pool sergeant of the 2nd Battalion 1st Infantry wearing pocket patches of the 196th Infantry Brigade and Americal Division on his khaki uniform while on R & R. 

[seanmc1114]

Warrant Officer of the 11th Airborne Division post-Korean War. What's the DUI he's wearing?

[seanmc1114]

11th Airborne Division troops, presumably of the 152nd Anti-Aircraft Battalion, at Camp Mackall, North Carolina prior to deploying overseas in World War II.

[patches]

10 hours ago, seanmc1114 said:

Warrant Officer of the 11th Airborne Division post-Korean War. What's the DUI he's wearing?

I think it's the 457th Airborne Field Artillery ( tredhed please coordinate)

[tredhed2]

Good job….457th it is

[patches]

13 minutes ago, tredhed2 said:

Good job….457th it is

Thanks

 

I could not find an actual metal DI of this, thus the pocket patch, no doubt a repro one at that.

[seanmc1114]

10 hours ago, patches said:

I think it's the 457th Airborne Field Artillery ( tredhed please coordinate)

 

10 hours ago, tredhed2 said:

Good job….457th it is

Thanks. When I looked at the DUI in the picture I would have sworn it was the head of a white dog wearing sunglasses.

[seanmc1114]

Sixth Army cook from a 1969 Fort Ord basic traning yearbook.

[seanmc1114]

79th Infantry Division

[seanmc1114]

1st Cavalry Division and 11th Airborne Division. Probably in Japan postwar.

[seanmc1114]

98th Infantry Division in World War II.

[seanmc1114]

Two members of the 2nd Battalion 508th Infantry of the 82nd Airborne Division, probably in the Dominican Republic.

[seanmc1114]

761st Tank Battalion

[Ranger-1972]

On 5/11/2022 at 8:39 AM, seanmc1114 said:

 

 

Might also be a bit later than while the 11th Airborne Division was on occupation duty in Japan (Sep 45 - May 49).  The 1SG is wearing his service stripes on his lower left sleeve, but no overseas bars (if he was in Japan on Occupation Duty, he had probably served during the war in the Philippines).  The Army switched wearing of the Overseas Bars to the right sleeve in 1953.  The 'new' gold on green enlisted rank insignia (like the stripes worn by the corporal) were adopted in September 1959.  The 1SG is still wearing the older green on tan rank insignia that had been adopted in February 1951. 

 

Another possible date for this photo could be in 1965.  On 1 February 1963, the 11th Air Assault Division (Test) was activated to explore the theory and practicality of helicopter assault tactics, and it was inactivated on 29 June 1965, when the division's personnel and equipment were transferred to the newly raised 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile).  www.first-team.us/tableaux/chapt_07/

 

I could not blow up this photo with sufficient resolution to see whether the 1SG is wearing jump wings or Air Assault Badge that was locally authorized for the 11th Air Assault Division (Test) beginning in 1964.

 

This could be two soldiers showing the "old" and "new" division patches for the unit.  Below is a 1965 photo of the parade at Ft Benning where the 11th Air Assault Division was reflagged as the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). Note that all the troops are wearing khakis with gold stripes on the sleeves.

 

And showing that "old is new," on 5 May 2022, during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth and Army Chief of Staff General James McConville announced that U.S. Army Alaska would be reflagged as the 11th Airborne Division, and on 25 April 2022, the Army G-1 authorized the Arctic tab to be worn with the 11th Airborne Division SSI.

[Ranger-1972]

On 5/11/2022 at 8:39 AM, seanmc1114 said:

1st Cavalry Division and 11th Airborne Division. Probably in Japan postwar.

 

The 1SG is not wearing the Airborne patch on his overseas cap. That would have been worn by soldiers in the 11th Airborne Division during occupation duty in Japan, but not if this was taken during the time it was the 11th Air Assault Division, since it was no longer an airborne unit.

 

The 1SG appears to be wearing black paratrooper boots.  The Army began changing from brown to black shoes / boots in 1956-57, and the black leather combat boot was adopted in 1958.

 

The photo below shows what a corporal of the 11th Airborne Division would look like during the Occupation period (note the brown boots and the [wrong] airborne patch on the overseas cap).  The correct patch on the overseas cap would only have the parachute, not the combination parachute & glider. While the 82nd Airborne Division adopted that cap patch before it shipped out to North Africa, the 11th Airborne Division didn't adopt it until well after the war.

 

The transition date for senior NCOs to switch to the gold on AG stripes was initially set as 30 June 1962, but it was later extended to 30 June 1968.  Per a post from Patches (2019), the OD on khaki stripes were still being worn by senior NCOs in the 1960s.  1SG Dempsey is shown in the photo below.

 

The corporal appears to be wearing the closed face brass buckle on his belt, which was not worn during WWII / occupation.

 

 

 

 

 

[rtd_sf_eng]

The picture is a group of soldiers at Camp Gordon, GA and the soldier on the front row, second from the right is wearing the XX (20th) Corps on the right side.  The soldier on the back row, far right side is my dad.  The weapons they are holding is either the M1 or M2 Carbine.  

 

Larry

[patches]

2nd Infantry Division behind the lines in 1945.

[patches]

Today

 

The 82nd, note he wears no Para Glider Cap patch. Hmm is the Maroon Beret allowed to be worn with this new uniform?

[patches]

Engineer Center & School Fort Leonard Wood, Spring 1973, a PV2, maybe a AIT trainee or maybe a newly trained guy on his very first duty assignment which is the Eng Ctr & Sch? Probably a trainee as if he was PP he would be wearing the Eng Ctr & Sch DI on the soft cap right.

[Ranger-1972]

22 hours ago, patches said:

Today

 

The 82nd, note he wears no Para Glider Cap patch. Hmm is the Maroon Beret allowed to be worn with this new uniform?

 

 

Given the ribbons he is wearing (including the Good Conduct Medal) and the fact that he has a Recruiter's badge with three stars, this 2LT must have been prior enlisted before being commissioned. Not sure where the photo is taken (there is no cannon like that on Ft Bragg), he may be wearing the SSI of the unit to which he is being assigned before reporting to that unit for duty.

 

Per the 2021 version of DA Pam 670-1, "[o]nly the heritage green 564 garrison cap; heritage green service cap (optional); and black, tan, green, maroon, or brown berets are authorized for wear with this uniform."  Para 20-4 b (3) reads: "Maroon beret. All personnel assigned to Airborne units whose primary missions are Airborne operations wear the maroon beret. The Airborne designation for a unit is found in the unit modification table of organization and equipment."  If this lieutenant is en route to the 82nd Airborne, but not yet inprocessed, he would not be authorized to wear the maroon beret.

 

Para 20-14 and 21-3 of DA Pam 670-1 make no mention of wearing the airborne/glider patch on the garrison cap.  That item seems to have gone out of the inventory after the airborne and Ranger berets were authorized for wear.

 

[patches]

Two 10th Division Trainees to commemorate, both died in Korea.

 

Sgt James R. Clark, Jasper Iowa,  E Company 35th Infantry 25th Infantry Division, POW North Korea November 28 1950, died in POW Camp in Manchuria April 19 1951.

 

Pvt Harold H. Cline, Brooklyn Iowa,  H Company 180th Infantry 45th Infantry Division KIA  June 12 1952.

 

[patches]

A X Corps Arty GI, Korea post armistice late summer of 53, White Portion UP.