T/F Frigid

[Bearmon]

this is on a 1945 dates Ike.

 

Has anyone ever seen the T/F Frigid on the combat side.

 

 

 

 

[carbinekid]

Hmm, Task Force Frigid, I've never seen that before. I actually have a large photo grouping from Task Force Frost which was going on at the same time. Very interesting...

[Airborne-Hunter]

asmic had an article about this not too long ago....from the asmic website:

 

"Task Force Frigid

Art Grau Jr.

 

In early 1946 the US Army announced that three special task forces would be organized to conduct winter exercises. TASK FORCE WILLIWAW was destined for Adak (in the Aleutian Islands); TASK FORCE FROST was destined for Camp (now Fort) McCoy, WI; and the largest being TASK FORCE FRIGID with 1500 military personnel, also sent to Alaska. Both FRIGID and WILLIWAW formed at Ft. Ord, CA while FROST assembled at Camp McCoy.

TF FRIGID sailed from San Francisco, CA on 7 September 46, arriving at Whittier, AK on 11 September, and arriving at its home for the winter – Ladd Field (now Ft. Wainwright) on 12 September.

Threat of Another War Spurred Tests

In September 1945 relations between the US and the Soviet Union worsened and the possibility of armed conflict played an important role in the Army’s plans to conduct winter operations in the arctic. These operations were to test the endurance of soldiers exposed to harsh winter conditions and also test clothing, weapons, vehicles, and other equipment that would be used in combat. The Soviet had much experience fighting in severe cold weather whereas the US had little such experience.

A Unique Outfit

TF FRIGID was termed a unique outfit comprising “one of everything” in the Army ground forces.....

 

 

This is only partial text and a limited number of graphics from the original article. The original article, which contains much more detailed information than here, and additional graphics, is contained in the April -June 2001 issue of The Trading Post."

 

http://www.asmic.org/samplearticles/frigid.htm

 

 

Best ABN

[Patchhouse2]

Personally, something is not right with this uniform.

 

The 43d ID served in the Pacific in WW2 - returning the states in fall 1945 and inactivating. Between WW2 and being activated again, it was a NG division with most if not all units in Rhode Island. The unit than deployed to Germany for several months before returning to NG status.

 

I have seen a troop list of units that served in T/F Frigid. To the best of my knowledge, the 43d ID was not one of them.

 

Could an individual have participated in T/F Frigid and received the tab - placing it below their 43d ID combat patch? Yes. However, having said this T/F Frigid was an "exercise" not a combat deployment and the tab should not be worn on the right sleeve as an "official" insignia / alignment. On the surface, this alignment of insignia smells if someone is offering this as an official use of insignia. The tabs that I have seen on uniforms have been worn on the left sleeve, below the appropriate participating unit SSI, as a temporary insignia.

 

Probably need to post a better picture of the tab. I have seen and held several in addition to owning a couple. It may be the glare of the photo but it also does not look right.....T/F Frigid tab is almost a dark Khaki twill background.

 

Patchhouse2

[Bearmon]

Patch house was he 79th a participant?

[PATCHRAT]

here is a good pic of a TF FRIGID tab

[carbinekid]

Did Task Force Frost have a tab?

[Patchhouse2]

The 79th Infantry served in Europe during WWII, inactivating late 1945. It is always possible someone could have been assigned to a unit of the 79th and than to a T/F Frigid unit and never changed his SSI. Having said this though, the probability is low...it makes no sense a soldier would not have their current unit / last unit of assignment on the left sleeve.

 

Summary. Unless someone has documentation completely explaining how the T/F Frigid tab ended up on this uniform (even if where it is worn is incorrect), this tab was probably added to create an artificially inflated value or preceived value - all of this is my view.

 

Concerning the existence of a T/F Frost tab. I personnally have never seen one. If other Forum members have, appreciate if they would post information / a photo. In looking at several collections over the years and other references, I have not seen, read or heard of its existence.

[Patchcollector]

Personally, something is not right with this uniform.

 

The 43d ID served in the Pacific in WW2 - returning the states in fall 1945 and inactivating. Between WW2 and being activated again, it was a NG division with most if not all units in Rhode Island. The unit than deployed to Germany for several months before returning to NG status.

 

I have seen a troop list of units that served in T/F Frigid. To the best of my knowledge, the 43d ID was not one of them.

 

Could an individual have participated in T/F Frigid and received the tab - placing it below their 43d ID combat patch? Yes. However, having said this T/F Frigid was an "exercise" not a combat deployment and the tab should not be worn on the right sleeve as an "official" insignia / alignment. On the surface, this alignment of insignia smells if someone is offering this as an official use of insignia. The tabs that I have seen on uniforms have been worn on the left sleeve, below the appropriate participating unit SSI, as a temporary insignia.

 

Probably need to post a better picture of the tab. I have seen and held several in addition to owning a couple. It may be the glare of the photo but it also does not look right.....T/F Frigid tab is almost a dark Khaki twill background.

 

Patchhouse2

 

 

 

 

 

I just wanted to comment about the color of the tab.Sometimes pics taken with a flash can wash out colors,that is why I try and not use my flash when

taking pics of patches.Not to take away anything about this one's authenticity,just a general comment I wanted to make when I saw the pics.

[J_Andrews]

Excuse me, but that is not the SSI of the 79th. It is for the 97th.

 

Further, the 97th was not active after WWII. In the interwar period it had covered Maine-NH-VT. After WWII it was not reactivated in the ORC/USAR. Some of its elements were realigned under the 76th ID (HQ in Conn.), but the Div HQ was not extant.

 

The 97th SSI came back in IIRC 1970 or 1971, when it was passed on to the then-new 97th Army Reserve Command, HQ at Ft Meade MD.

 

In short, this jacket reeks of a put-together, done by someone with few smarts.

[Patchhouse2]

Good catch on the left sleeve being the 97th vs. 79th. More than once I have screwed this up.

 

A good summary. Thank you.

[36-tex]

Here is a shirt I just purchased. It has the T/F FRIGID tab under the Armored Forces patch on the right sleeve.

[36-tex]

Left sleeve has the 4th Army patch.

[36-tex]

The shirt itself and the inked markings inside of the shirt.

[Teamski]

The tab being on the right shoulder is a question mark in itself. The tab looks good. Here is a shot of a true hero lost in his youth, Ross Carter.

 

-Ski

[Joe Black]

I have roughly a 1/2 lb of copies of newspaper and magazine articles about T/F Frigid covering the period June 1946 to Apr 1947 that any member is welcome to.

In addition there are photos of my old friend Art Grau and his unit, 1st Prov MP Section at Ladd Field,AK with T/F Frigid.

These clippings and photos came to me from Art Grau before he passed away in 2001.

I will ship this memorabilia via Media Mail, and am only looking for postage reimbursement. This will be handled on first come, first serve basis.

Any interested members, please leave reply or msg me.

Tom

[ocsfollowme]

Tom,

 

I sent a PM concerning the newspaper clippings.

 

Steve

[Joe Black]

Here's a photo of the 1st Provisional MP Section, T/F Frigid, Ladd Field, AK

and another of a social get together at the Rendezvous Supper Club, Fairbanks (10/11/1946).

The T/F Frigid tab can be seen on the left shoulder sleeve, underneath the 3rd ID patch.

Both photos courtesy of Art Grau.

 

[Cherokee]

My contribution, one of my Arctic Exercise and Alaska trays.

[ocsfollowme]

Your top right patch is only the second known in the US. There are others in Canada.

[Bearmon]

Your top right patch is only the second known in the US. There are others in Canada.

That is a pretty strong statement. How can you be sure? Maybe it would be safer to say it is only the second in the US known to you.

[tredhed2]

Still debatable if the two round patches that say ALASKA and have stars and bears (haha) on them are military.

 

Do you (Cherokee) know for certain if the EXERCISE ESKIMO patch was worn by US troops or only Canadian? Waddo.

 

Have attached a tab also used in the Arctic FXs and testing.

[lamarhooten]

I have wondered about the black bear and stars alaska patch myself. My example came from a collection that had the T/F Frigid and it in it. Also found one on a patch blanket with alittle bit of everything on it. I had passed on the igloo - exercise eskimo patch years ago and still kicking myself.

[ocsfollowme]

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/216127-1945-1947-arctic-expeditions-patches-eskimo-and-muskox-and-tf-frigid/?fromsearch=1

[Bearmon]

Soon there will be three in the US