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

[seanmc1114]

82nd Airborne Division with the number "82" between the tab and shield. I've never seen this before. I believe the DUI and oval he is wearing are for the 325th Infantry. 

[seanmc1114]

82nd Airborne Division with AIRBORNE tab and double enlisted branch insignia. This soldier served between 1949 and 1951.

[seanmc1114]

82nd Airborne Division SSI worn by what looks like a soldier in basic training. Note the flag background and double U.S. collar insignia but no name tag, ribbons or other insignia

[seanmc1114]

Full color 82nd Airborne Division SSI worn, according to the Facebook post, in 1973.

[Ranger-1972]

14 hours ago, seanmc1114 said:

82nd Airborne Division with the number "82" between the tab and shield. I've never seen this before. I believe the DUI and oval he is wearing are for the 325th Infantry. 

 

The 325th was a Glider Infantry Regiment, not a Parachute Infantry Regiment.  He should have been wearing the glider badge rather than airborne wings.  Like you, I've never seen the number "82" between the Airborne tab and the division patch.  Since he is wearing one of the two  fourragères awarded to the 325th (one French and the other Belgian), but not the Netherlands orange lanyard and only one of the Presidential Unit Citations the 325th received on his crisply pressed Ike jacket, this is likely a post-war photo. He may have been a paratrooper from one of the division's Parachute Infantry Regiments (504th PIR or 505th PIR) and been reassigned to the 325th GIR during post-war / occupation duty cross-leveling.  Don't see any service hash marks on his sleeve, so he may not have been in the division from D-Day onwards, but rather joined the unit later in the war. Interesting that he is not wearing a CIB.  Below is a photo of SSG Green, of the 325 GIR, who won the Silver Star during the assault on the Seigfried Line.  He is not wearing any oval behind his glider wings, nor his 325 GIR crest, nor the fourragère but he does have on his CIB.  Always interesting to see what "was worn" versus what "was supposed to be worn."

 

The 325 GIR continued to perform occupation duties in Berlin from August 1945 (when it replaced the 2nd Armored Division) until 3 January 1946 (when it was returned to the U.S. and later deactivated on 15 Dec 1947).  This photo could have been taken in Berlin or after the unit returned to CONUS.

 

 

[seanmc1114]

7 hours ago, Ranger-1972 said:

 

The 325th was a Glider Infantry Regiment, not a Parachute Infantry Regiment.  He should have been wearing the glider badge rather than airborne wings.  Like you, I've never seen the number "82" between the Airborne tab and the division patch.  Since he is wearing one of the two  fourragères awarded to the 325th (one French and the other Belgian), but not the Netherlands orange lanyard and only one of the Presidential Unit Citations the 325th received on his crisply pressed Ike jacket, this is likely a post-war photo. He may have been a paratrooper from one of the division's Parachute Infantry Regiments (504th PIR or 505th PIR) and been reassigned to the 325th GIR during post-war / occupation duty cross-leveling.  Don't see any service hash marks on his sleeve, so he may not have been in the division from D-Day onwards, but rather joined the unit later in the war. Interesting that he is not wearing a CIB.  Below is a photo of SSG Green, of the 325 GIR, who won the Silver Star during the assault on the Seigfried Line.  He is not wearing any oval behind his glider wings, nor his 325 GIR crest, nor the fourragère but he does have on his CIB.  Always interesting to see what "was worn" versus what "was supposed to be worn."

 

The 325 GIR continued to perform occupation duties in Berlin from August 1945 (when it replaced the 2nd Armored Division) until 3 January 1946 (when it was returned to the U.S. and later deactivated on 15 Dec 1947).  This photo could have been taken in Berlin or after the unit returned to CONUS.

 

 

I assume the photo I posted was taken post-World War II when the Ike jacket was still being worn. Note he is wearing domed enlisted collar insignia.

 

The 325th was redesignated as an airborne infantry regiment in 1948 and from that point on was parachute qualified and no longer a glider unit.

 

 

 

[seanmc1114]

Seventh Army SSI with PERSHING tab worn by a member of HHB, 56th Artillery Brigade in 1970 during the brief period when that combo of insignia was worn by the brigade.

[seanmc1114]

Field artillery Specialist 6 wearing the Army Material Command SSI at Fort Sill around 1972.

 

[Ranger-1972]

12 hours ago, seanmc1114 said:

I assume the photo I posted was taken post-World War II when the Ike jacket was still being worn. Note he is wearing domed enlisted collar insignia.

 

The 325th was redesignated as an airborne infantry regiment in 1948 and from that point on was parachute qualified and no longer a glider unit.

 

 

 

 

Correct.  After the war, the regiment was reorganized and redesignated, 15 December 1947, as Company A, 325th Infantry Regiment. (Organized Reserves redesignated 25 March 1948 as the Organized Reserve Corps.) On 15 November 1948, the regiment was withdrawn from the Organized Reserve Corps, allotted to the Regular Army, and was reorganized and redesignated 15 December 1948 as Company A, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment.

 

If this is taken after December 1948, the Army had adopted the smaller NCO stripes in August of that year (though it's possible that the corporal is continuing to wear his previously authorized stripes longer, even though new stripes are available).

 

The Type III Domed collar disc was authorized for private purchase beginning in 1946.  Not sure when the practice of wearing discs on the upper and lower lapels was begun and when it ended.

[patches]

15 hours ago, seanmc1114 said:

I assume the photo I posted was taken post-World War II when the Ike jacket was still being worn. Note he is wearing domed enlisted collar insignia.

 

The 325th was redesignated as an airborne infantry regiment in 1948 and from that point on was parachute qualified and no longer a glider unit.

 

 

 

Photo taken somewhere between very late 1951 early 1952 (when the discs on the lower lapels and the small 1948 Reg stripes are no longer worn, or not supposed to be worn, as there were exceptions at least with these small ones at that time) and late-sh 1952 (When the Blue Infantry Distinctives are available for wear, Blue Distinctives come out sometime in August 1952)

[seanmc1114]

Infantrymen of the 45th Infantry Division and 42nd Infantry Division in Germany at the end of World War II.

[seanmc1114]

42nd Infantry Division in World War II

[seanmc1114]

84th Infantry Division medics of the 3rd Battalion 334th Infantry Regiment tending to a wounded German soldier during World War II

[seanmc1114]

13th Airborne Division SSI worn by Lieutenant Colonel Melvin Zais, executive officer of the 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment during World War II. He later commanded the 101st Airborne Division during the Vietnam War, including the period when the Battle of Hamburger Hill was fought.

[patches]

John Chipian TD

[patches]

Walter Krueger when he commanded 3rd Army in 1941.

[patches]

Leo D Hermle commander of the 5th Marine Division post VJ Day. a Wool 5th Mar Div patch we see. Wearing the French Rope as well, he was in the 74th Company, 6th Marine Regiment AEF in WWI.

[seanmc1114]

Warrant officer of the 2nd Cavalry Division wearing Cavalry branch insignia.

[seanmc1114]

United Nations Partisan Forces Korea

[seanmc1114]

Master sergeant of the 1st Cavalry Division wearing the Infantry blue shoulder cord and disc backings along with patch type crest DUI's (or possibly 1st Cav NCBU DUI's) on green leadership tabs and a RECRUITING SERVICE brassard.

[seanmc1114]

Three photos of what appears to be the same lieutenant wearing some sort of private purchase bush jacket with 2nd Infantry Division and Eighth Army SSI in two different configurations. In a couple of the pictures he's also wearing 23rd Infantry DUI's and numbered branch insignia. 

[Rhscott]

18 minutes ago, seanmc1114 said:

Three photos of what appears to be the same lieutenant wearing some sort of private purchase bush jacket with 2nd Infantry Division and Eighth Army SSI in two different configurations. In a couple of the pictures he's also wearing 23rd Infantry DUI's and numbered branch insignia. 

1-23 tends to be “special” in their own mind.

[patches]

In a colorized portrait, a member of a unit within the 1st Aviation Brigade in Vietnam wear  In Country made Brigade patch sewn to the pocket, the left pocket.

[patches]

 ARAACOM 

[seanmc1114]

Soldiers of the 1st Battalion 26th Infantry of the 101st Airborne Division. Note they are wearing the generic Army flash. Any idea why this unit traditionally assigned to the 1st Infantry Division since World War I has recently been assigned to the 2nd Brigade 101st Airborne Division?