WWII U. S. Army Uniform AA Shoulder Patch ID

Thank you, as always, Richard.

 

Sorry to be a pest Richard, but wanted to follow up on one question for which I still wish to clarify the answer - and I know in my previous longer message to you, it would have been easy to miss. It was regarding the CONUS departure/arrival dates on Amos' DD-214. My question was: So am I understanding those dates right that he left the U.S. October 19, 1944 and returned to the U.S. January 20, 1946 and was out of the country for that long? Would sincerely appreciate your confirming that I have these dates correct in my mind. Then I believe I can give you a break. Thank you!!

 

Hi again Richard. Sorry, but just had a thought I wanted to share and ask you about. I've attached a photo of Amos in what appears to be the Philippines. I'm wondering if you can identify the AA Machine Gun equipment Amos is pictured on -- and does this provide you any additional clues as to which Brigade, Battery, and/or Battalion (of those you listed above) he may have belonged to? Just thought I'd take my chances. Thank you very much and hope you are having a great day!

Sincerely,
Sheila

 

Thank you for the suggestion, EKB. I will certainly keep that in mind. ~Sheila

 

The weapon is an M45 Quadmount .50

 

Yes, thank you. I wasn't sure if those were used in all of the Pacific Theater operations or not, so I sent the photo to Richard in case it would maybe help in narrowing the potential options in determining what unit my friend's father may have been in. Thank you again for your reply.

Sincerely,
Sheila

 

Good morning Lou and thank you so much for confirming. Yikes! And now knowing this, I thought Amos' time overseas was a long time. Your dad's TOD was quite lengthy!

I do have one more question I am going to post for either you or Richard. I truly hope this will be my last question and I know I've inundated you guys with many. But, I want you to know that all of the information I have learned has been hugely valuable!! Hope you have a good day and thank you again.

Sincerely,
Sheila

 

Good morning all (especially Richard and Lou - as you two have been most helpful in answering all of my questions - smile),

I truly hope this will be my LAST question!! I've re-attached a National Guard Extract document that shows some of the promotions Amos received. When one of the TogetherWeServed.com site Admins set up Amos profile for me, he "gleaned" from this document that Amos would have attended Officer Candidate School (Infantry) at Ft. Benning, GA in 1952. Below is the link to Amos' profile on the TogetherWeServed.com site:

Shadow box

I have tried, in the past, to get confirmation from a woman at Ft. Benning, but to-date have not received that. She said everything is still in physical books and not scanned so it would take quite some time. I do not anticipate her really taking the time to look, but can understand.

So, my question this morning is, if any of you can come to the same conclusion of Amos having attended OCS from this document? And, if so, do you agree with the 1952 year? As in all of my questions before, I sincerely appreciate any information any of you can provide me on this.

Sincerely,
SheilaQ

 

Hi Lou,

Thank you so much for deciphering that it was National Guard OCS he attended. I had been able to figure out the promotions, but would have never known about National Guard OCS. And I appreciate the confirmation of knowing he was not in, anywhere, from 1946-52. You may have already guessed I'd have to ask another question. Sorry, but is NG OCS different than the Ft. Benning OCS? Would it still have been at Ft. Benning or likely somewhere in WV (his home state)?

Thanks so much again Lou. I truly hope that once you answer this "last" (?) question, I will really be done.

Sincerely,
Sheila

 

Generally speaking, ARNG soldiers attend active US Army schools for their training. So he was most likely an ARNG soldier on temporary active duty for training when he attended Officer Candidate School at Ft.Benning. It is usually the regular course and attended by active, reserve and National Guard soldiers in the same class. There are times when there are special, abbreviated classes just for ARNG personnel, but that's normally the exception rather than the rule. So it is possible that the West Virginia Guard held a special officers training course, in house, but more likely he went on temporary active duty and attended the resident course at Benning.

The actual orders you posted relieved him as XO of Troop G, 2d Recon Squad, 150th ACAV as of 28 Dec 61, promoted him to Captain as of 29 Dec 61 and assigned him to an excess TOE (Table of Organization and Equipment) slot with HQ and HQ Detachment West Virginia National Guard. It also noted he was on active duty at the time.

 

To USMCPrice - Thank you SO very much for taking the time to share so much detail in answering my question. You, and everyone else, have been HUGELY helpful in explaining and piecing together details I would have never been able to do. I am compiling all of the new-found details into a document to give Amos' son. He is equally grateful, as this gives him much greater insight into his dad's military service.

Again, thank you. Have a great evening and remainder of your weekend!

Sincerely,
SheilaQ

 

Good morning Lou,

Thank you for your message. It means a lot, considering how many questions I asked and the level of detail I drilled you guys for. I have shared everyone's replies with Clark (Amos' son) and he is enormously appreciative of the insight those details have given him about his dad's military service. He had always wanted to ask his dad about his military service -- but as is often the case -- he procrastinated. His dad passed away suddenly back in 2000, thus Clark never had those conversations with his dad. So, the information, explanations, and clarification everyone shared with me is now, definitely, a treasure for Clark - and one he can now share with his children and family.

Clark has asked that I ask one more question, and I will do so in a separate thread. It is regarding a "uniform" question.

So Lou, I thank you (and everyone else) once again. This website, and the level of service, knowledge, passion, patience, and eagerness to help others is impeccable and honorable! I will forever be grateful for having discovered it. Have a wonderful day!

Sincerely,
Sheila

 

Those of us just spectating can pick up a lot from these threads as well. Asking questions is a good things. Sometimes even a very "simple" question can lead to some rather profound discussions and knowledge.

 

Since the "big 2" was pointed out to be a post-WW2 2nd Army patch, I had to look and see what the old patch looked like since I always thought that the current patch was from the formation of the 2nd Army in WW1. Here it is;



At first glance, I thought that it was sort of bland, but I realized that it would stand out on the OD uniforms of the day (in WW1) and later on khakis in the interwar period.

For quick reference, here's the current patch.



I kinda like the older one better, now that I've been looking at it.