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Distinctive Unit And Shoulder Sleeve Insignia

U.S. Army Air Force Patch

Soldiers paid attention to insignias and specifications for each device, and the directions for wearing them were followed exactly. Close attention to dress code was important because it served as an aid to recognition, and as an element to create and support pride, as well as a means of establishing and maintaining discipline. Rather than using numbers for identification, symbols were used because they expressed warmth and fraternity. Wearing the insignia provided a source of pride in oneself and in one's organization. This pride promoted self-discipline, the essence of respect for self, for service, and for the country. George Washington devised badges early during the Revolutionary War so that rank could be readily identified. Since the Revolution, the number of insignia has multiplied, and their purposes have expanded.

The unit cloth patch on soldiers' uniforms is over 125 years old. It was born in 1862 in the American Civil War, when General Philip A. Kearney, the hard driving commander of the Federal Third Corps, assigned badges to the divisions within his corps. This was prompted, it was said, by an occasion when he mistook some officers for men of his corps and reprimanded them about their appearance. The patches worn by the Third Corps were made from cloth cut in a variety of shapes.

Within a year of their introduction, Corps patches had been adopted by all the Northern arrnies and General Hooker had assigned colors to the divisions within each Corps. The Civil War had begun with many regiments sporting colorful uniforms, but by its close these were greatly simplified and blue and gray had become standard colors. Patches were therefore a useful way of distinguishing men and their units.

However, even today the US Army retains some of the old traditions of the 1860s, with colored piping and backings on modern dress blue uniforms. The infantry have light blue, the cavalry yellow, the artillery red, and engineers white. This light blue color appears as the backing to the Expert and Combat Infantryman's badge. The tradition is still remembered in slang - the pejorative nickname for non-airborne soldiers in the US Army is 'Legs' an abbreviation of 'Red Legs', the term which was used for artillerymen in the Civil War because of their red or red-piped trousers.

The 'shoulder patch' as it is worn today was officially introduced into the US Army in 1918. That summer, soldiers of the 81st Infantry Division embarking at Hoboken, New Jersey, wore a hand-embroidered 'wild cat' badge on the upper left arm. When they arrived in France other US Army units adopted the idea, even though it was still unofficial. General Headquarters recognized its value of building morale and of helping troops reassemble under their own officers after an offensive. Subsequently, all organizations of the American Expeditionary Force were directed to adopt similar insignia. Permission to wear the insignia was given on October 19, 1918.

During World War I, many were cut out patches of felt and appliqued on a background. Those most recently produced now are embroidered or painted on leather. The insignia was and still is worn on the left sleeve below the shoulder to denote divisions, corps, and armies. They resembled in purpose the enameled badges of the Civil War and Spanish-American War. Though some of these badges still exist today in concept or design, many were created for the duration of World War I only and disappeared when the units were disbanded.

New designs did not conflict with existing ones, nor did they resemble a symbol employed by the enemy. Instant recognition of insignia was essential. Most of the insignia used by the United States Army were based on historic facts or on some attribute of the organization concerned. Local stories or mythology were often the basis of design. Army arm and service insignia ordinarily included adaptations of early weapons. Many insignia showed strong links with naval tradition antedating the creation of our Navy. To simplify manufacture and to aid memory, only one combination of colors for each insignia was authorized. All designs were simple, preferable in silhouette. Not only were military insignia authorized, they were prescribed for wear as directed.

The Civil War origins of the unit patch reflected the problem of identifying men in a mass conscript or draft army. In time, the patch would become a focus for unit pride, which also has its reverse in ridicule for other divisional patches. The 82nd Airborne Division patch - a double 'A' for 'All American' -- was read as 'Almost Airborne' by the men of the 101st Airborne. In turn the 82nd would ridicule the 'Screaming Eagle' of the 101st with references to 'Screaming Chickens'. Sometimes there was self deprecation, as when the 5th Special Forces Group in Vietnam referred to their patch as the 'Saigon Electrical Works'.

The 9th Infantry have a blue, red and white octofoil patch - the heraldic symbol of the ninth son. In Vietnam the patch was nicknamed 'Flower Power' or 'The Psychedelic Cookie' Division. In World War II men of the 90th Infantry Divison from Texas and Oklahoma asserted that the white letters 'TO', which resemble a rancher's brand, did not stand for the two states but for 'Tough Ombres' - Tough Guys. A number of the patches worn by US Army Divisions in Europe in World War II reflected US participation in World War I: the 79th had a Cross of Lorraine and the 93rd the silhouette of a French helmet. Men of the 92nd had a Buffalo, which dated back to the Indian Wars of the Midwest.

After the Spanish-American War uniforms changed from blue to khaki. During World War II there was a move from khaki to olive drab and in the 1970s to camouflage colors. Throughout these transitions the principle behind unit patches remained the same. The backing material for patches and badges changed from khaki to olive drab in the 1960s. In the 1960s in Vietnam, and now privately in the United States, individual soldiers had badges embroidered directly onto their fatigue shirts and jackets.

The structure of the US Army is rather like that of a family tree Divided into Army units with their own area of operation and their own history and traditions, further subdivisions of Corps and Divisions follow. Each has its patch which reflects its special identity.

During World War I, some units were activated, but did not actually serve overseas. Those that did see action in France collected battle honors and insignia which reflected their service. World War II saw involvement on a larger scale and in different theaters of war. The unit patch, embroidered in silk, became a focus for pride as US Army and Air Force units mingled with Allied forces in North Africa and, toward the end of the War, in Italy and Northern Europe. In the Pacific the US Marine Corps and the US Army island-hopped toward Japan, and there was less contact with Allies.

The patches of US Cavalry preserve the traditional yellow which first appeared in bandanas and piping on uniforms. The 1st Cavalry - the 'First Team' or 'Hell for Leather' - saw action in the Philippines and was the first division to enter Tokyo. It served in Korea and was the first unit to enter Pyongyang in 1950. In Vietnam, it became an Airmobile division and was credited with 2,056 days overseas and participated in many of the major operations. It was reorganized into an armored division in 1975 and is currently an Active Army and Army National Guard Division, based at Fort Hood, Texas.

The 2nd Cavalry Division, like the 3rd, 21st, 24th, 56th, 61st, 62nd, 63rd, 64th, 65th and 66th, did not see action in World War II. The 2nd and 3rd Cav., like 1st Cav., have yellow shield patches measuring 14x10 cm. The patches were said to have been designed by an officer's wife at Fort Bliss to be big enough to be visible through the dust kicked up by horse-mounted cavalry.

The 1st Cavalry's yellow shield has an oblique black bar and outline of a horse's head. The 2nd Cav.'s patch has a blue chevron and two stars, while 3rd Cav. have one with the figure '3' in blue. The 21st and 24th Cav. have the outline of a stirrup, while the 56th have a star. The 61st has a horse's head within a spur on a yellow shield, the 62nd a shield with crossed yellow bars and the 63rd a yellow square with crossed red bars. The 64th Cav.'s patch shows a saber on a yellow field, and the 65th's an arrowhead on a blue and yellow shield. The 66th has a six-pointed yellow star with a blue border.

Army Infantry Blue Cord The "little rope" goes by many names: Cord, Fourragere, Aigullette, etc. The first recorded use of a device on the left shoulder is highly debated. Some think it was by knights who often had a rope wrapped around their left shoulder to tie up their horse. Others believed these same knights used a metal tipped throng to lace their armor, which conveniently hung over their left shoulder. The French origin goes back to the use of horses in battle. The Generals Aide carried a loop of cord to tie up the Generals horse when he dismounted. As a practical approach the aides would loop the cord around the buttoned down flap on the shoulder of their shirt.

Prior to 1947, when the USAF was established as a separate force, it was, as the United States Army Air Force, part of the US Army. It had begun life in 1907 as three men in the Army Signal Corps. In 1926 it was designated the Air Corps, having earned its wings in World War I. In World War II the Corps was reorganized in June 1941 and was designated the Army Air Force. The 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Air Forces were Continental Air Forces which were tasked with the defense of the United States. The Combat Air Forces were activated in strategic areas of operation and their unit patches were to become the outward signs of the USAAF's overseas power projection. The old USAAF patch was an oriental-style design which also resembled a turning propellor blade. The 'new' patch used the pre-War USAAF white star with a circular center which was painted on USAAF aircraft. The patch had a blue background with yellow wings. Most of the USAAF patches were circular on a blue background; exceptions were the 2nd Air Force (square), the 6th (six sided), the 11th (shield), the 12th (inverted triangle), the US Strategic Air Force and the Desert Air Force (shields). The 1st Air Force had the figure '1' above the patch, the 2nd an eagle with a star, the 3rd a figure '3', the 4th a winged star and four radiating gold bars. The 5th had five stars, with the figure 'S' and the star as a meteor. It was originally the Philippine Department Air Force and was activated in May 1941. It was redesignated the 5th Air Force in 1942 and supported landings on Guadalcanal and Admiralty Islands and saw air action in New Guinea.

The 6th, which had a winged star with the silhouette of a galleon above it, was the Panama Canal Air Force. It was responsible for defense of the strategically-important Canal Zone and for anti-submarine operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The galleon motif has remained in use in the US Army.

The army air forces insignia was approved on March 21, 1942. The original army insignia for its planes was the basis for the Army Air Forces shoulder sleeve insignia. The insignia for the planes was a blue circle with a white star on which was superimposed a red disk. For the shoulder sleeve gold wings were added to the design. In the plane insignia, the red disk was dropped in 1942 because it was confused with the Japanese plane insignia, but the original design was maintained in the sleeve insignia. The ultra marine disk represented the sky and air. The golden wings surmounting the star are an indication of victorious operation.

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