WW2: which shoulder sleeve Insignia (badge) is ur favorite?

Question

which represent Army divisions since there were so many....from 1st to 106th divisions.

For me, i like the Rainbow Division (42nd) because the badge is of a cute rainbow eventho they took part in the Dachau Massacre after they liberated over 30,000 from the duchau concentration camps.


http://www.angelfire.com/md2/patches/Divisions2.html

to douglas, i did NOT type that wrong so take a look at that link.....u should know your history better

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dachau_Massacre

Answer 1

The "Black Devils" of the First Special Service Force, aka the "Devils Brigade" a red arrowhead with the words USA & Canada inscribed upon it signifying the Americans & Canadians who were Forcemen.

Answer 2

The Ranger scroll tab is worn by ability of those contributors of the seventy 5th that have not earned the Ranger Tab. The Ranger Tab is for those that graduate Ranger college. Ranger college is a wrestle management direction. that's open to different branches besides. The Marines at present deliver approximately 85 a 12 months. pictures of the tabs may be seen at the two links. SSG US military seventy 3-80 two

Answer 3

Marine Raider patch

Answer 4

101st Airborne Division----Screaming Eagles!!

Answer 5

101st Airborne,Screaming Eagles

Answer 6

Hi...

Mine would be the 82nd Air Borne Div patch. (I have two daughters in the 82nd right now... both in Iraq)

...took part? I'm hoping you simply wrote that wrong... if not lets hear your facts.

Warm regards,
Douglas

Answer 7

Hey Janice. Are you in the military or just a history buff? Maybe both?

Answer 8

screaming eagles, 101st airborne, or the big red one, its not the coolest looking but has a lot of history behind it

Answer 9

The old saying goes, “If you gotta be one, be a Big Red One!” When I was assigned to the 1st Infantry Division Forward in early 1972, I felt I was honored and kept looking at the new patch on my shoulder. Our patch is a simple red “1” on an olive drab field, but it represents a lot of history. As a Baby Boomer, I grew up hearing World War II tales from relatives, teachers, neighbors, books, and I had my future division’s patch in my collection along with many others. The 1st Infantry Division was my first unit after I graduated training, and many of our senior NCOs and officers were World War II veterans serving their final years before retirement. Our PX stocked campaign ribbons from WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. In 1973, I won Soldier of the Year for my forward brigade in Germany, and I was sent back to the States to attend a Society of the First Division convention. I met guys in their 50’s that told me about what happened on the beaches of Sicily and Normandy, and we still had a few World War I vets that told about going “over the top” to assault German trenches. My own combat experience at that point was limited to some obscure anti-terrorist operations in Germany and a brief special operation along the Ho Chi Minh Trail by an ad hoc armored cav unit that wore no patches because it didn’t officially exist.

Unit shoulder patches really do matter, and the Army tries to perpetuate its most historic divisions and regiments. In an era of increasing defense hardware costs and a false perception following the end of the Cold War that fewer ground troops will be needed, it is too bad (and pretty damn foolish) that the 2nd and 3rd Armored Divisions and the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 24th Infantry Divisions were disbanded and their proud colors cased. Since division patches are much more noticeable than regimental unit crests, it is the division patch that most American soldiers develop a strong emotional attachment to. The US Army is going through a transformation from a division based structure to a modular structure based on Brigade Combat Teams. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformation_of_the_United_States_Army for more details. Each of the ten Regular and eight National Guard division headquarters will have four maneuver brigades that wear their division patch, but all brigades will be interchangeable and deployed according to their availability and capabilities. Some National Guard brigades will continue to wear their brigade patch, which in many cases is their former World War II division patch of the same number. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_National_Guard#List_of_Units_Undergoing_Transformation .

Most Army battalions are affiliated with a historic, but non-operational regiment whose crest they wear. The battalions have been freely shuffled around various divisions as needed, but there is now an attempt to assign them to a brigade for stability. My first unit was the 1st Squadron of the 4th Cavalry Regiment. We did reconnaissance for the 1st Infantry Division and were abbreviated as ¼ Cav and referred to as the Quarter Cav or Quarter Horse since the Vietnam era. Other squadrons of the old 4th Cavalry are assigned to other divisions but all wear the same regimental crest. For a look at my old crest see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_Cavalry_Regiment_%28United_States%29 . When I was in the 49th Armored Division, all six tank battalions were designated 112th Armor and wore the crest of the old 112th Cavalry Regiment which fought as infantry in the Pacific during World War II.

As part of the Regan arms build-up, I was recalled into the service and assigned to an independent armored cavalry regiment whose squadrons were in the Texas and Montana Army National Guard. We wore a really cool cow skull patch based on the Montana 163rd Infantry Regiment and did a lot of our training at Gowen Field, Idaho. After an unpopular reorganization in 1988, our squadron in Texas was broken up into two tank battalions that were assigned to the 50th Armored Division which was mostly a New Jersey outfit. I couldn’t get the tank commander’s slot I wanted, so I transferred to the 49th Armored Division for the next ten years. Both the 49th and 50th wore standard numbered armored division patches, but both were created after World War II and had no battle heritage and therefore, less value as insignia in spite of our impressive firepower. Throughout the ‘90’s I wanted the Texas National Guard to reflag us as the 36th Infantry Division (Mechanized). This happened a few years ago after I retired. The T-Patch, as it was called by the public, had the power to inspire that went far beyond the vast armored fleet fielded by the 49th. The 36th ID wore the T-Patch when it went to war in Iraq. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/36th_Infantry_Division_%28United_States%29 .

The 42nd Infantry Division was called the Rainbow Division because in World War I, it was made up of National Guard units from many states. SGT Alvin York served in that outfit. Both the 42nd and 45th Infantry Divisions were credited with liberating Dachau Concentration Camp. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dachau_concentration_camp for the gory details about the camp and its liberation. I personally know the place quite well and stayed at the nearby SS barracks in September 1972 on a TYD assignment. It was my second terrorist attack and my first plainclothes operation. I was supposed to observe German security operations during the Summer Olympics. The Germans didn’t heed our intelligence report warning of a possible terrorist attack because they didn’t want to appear heavy-handed. The result was the Munich Massacre. What a bloody mess! The next day, I visited the concentration camp museum and photographed the guard towers, fences, gas chamber, and crematorium. I saw lampshades made from human skin and realized that hatred is alive and well in spite of the warnings in history books.

Both the 42nd and 45th Infantry Divisions were battle-hardened outfits that were quite used to seeing the human wreckage of modern battle, but nothing prepared them for the horrors they witnessed when they found the concentration camp. Americans are trained not to kill captured enemy soldiers or massacre unfriendly civilians, and for the most part, we uphold international law. The SS guards at Dachau were NOT enemy combat troops; they were criminals unlike anything ever imagined. General Patton puked his guts out when he saw the camp. If enraged American troops gunned down some of the SS thugs, then that it good, old vigilante justice. In some situations, that is appropriate. Now there are procedures for dealing with atrocities and prosecuting genocide, and every literate person has seen photos of the Holocaust in their history books. When young American soldiers first came across this nightmare, it was a complete shock to them. The notion that the 42nd Infantry Division is somehow tainted by gunning down some Nazi thugs is nothing more than Internet trolling on the part of the Asker. I offer no apology for my bluntness. My own trigger finger itched to take out East German machinegun towers along the Iron Curtain that killed their own people trying to escape communism.

If you have the privilege of wearing one of the historic divisional patches, wear it with honor!

US Army 1971-99, retired