U.S Military Cloth and Insignia Collecting

[irish]

I thought it was time to post some of my U.S. collection. While British and Commonwealth are of great interest to me as one might expect my U.S collection takes up much of my time and resources. My interest is Insignia, cloth and metal. Mainly of the Vietnam War era but also back to the Post WW2 and the Korea time period. As time allows I will post items from my collection. Please feel free to comment and or ask questions. Best Jack.

First off are two cloth insignia of the Post WW2 period, Japanese occupation. The MP bulldog patch of the 8th U.S Army. You can see the 8th Army patch on either side of the helmet. This design while worn would have been considered unauthorized. However in the heady days of early occupation much got through and was worn. This patch could have been worn on Field Jackets and Ike jackets of guards who served at Sugamo Prison. but likely not while on duty at the prison. Japanese Military and Government personnell awaiting trial at the International Military Tribunal were held at Sugamo. There are many variations and styles of the Sugamo patch this being the most often seen.

Second is a patch for the U.S Army 3rd Combat Engineer Bn. This unit spent some time in Australia before being sent off to other areas in the Pacific theater of operations. A nod to the time spent in Australia is the Aussie fighting knife held by the Beaver who has been at times a symbol for the Engineers.

Both of these patches show the high quality of workmanship available to soldiers in Japan following WW2 and well into the 1960's and the Vietnam war.

[irish]

From the Viet War era.

U.S. Marine Corps 1st Recon Co. Airborne and Scuba qualified individual. This is a larger pocket type patch. Japanese made

[irish]

Also from the same era. U.S. Navy Ship Pueblo. A ships jacket patch and shoulder scroll. AGER is a designation for an Auxiliary Ship Experimental Research. A cover name of sorts.

The USS Pueblo was an American electronic and signals intelligence ship. The ship and its crew were captured by the North Koreans on 23 Jan 1968. It was claimed by the N. Koreans to have strayed into their territorial waters. The crew was held for 11 months before release. The Pueblo is still in North Korea and used as a museum ship.

The larger ships patch is also Japanese made. The blue scroll would have been worn on the upper shoulder area of blue navy jumper uniform.