Patch ID please

[speagle]

What was the purpose of this patch? Was it for French who joined the US army? This uniform has all US insignia and ribbon bar and one overseas bar. No other patch on the other shoulder

[speagle]

Anybody????????

[IrishGunner]

I tired to find a reference, but no luck. My guess would be that it was a patch for US Army personnel stationed in France after the war for some type of area command.

I am not aware of any special uniform insignia for foreigners - French or otherwise - who joined the US Army.

[peter monahan]

I wondered whether it might be for Free French soldiers attached to the US Army - say in Operation Torch - to explain their lack of English, but that was just a wild a** guess. Seems a bit odd to have to tell people you're stationed in France when you're ...stationed in France. Or was it common to wear a patch indicating where one was stationed with US forces? My ignorance of US military protocol is encyclopedic!

[RRA227]

French troops training in America. Rich A. in Pa.

[IrishGunner]

French troops training in America. Rich A. in Pa.

What is the reference for this?

Not to be argumentative, but that makes no sense on jacket with US insignia, ribbon bar ... and especially an overseas bar. The additional regalia on this jacket seems to strongly suggest indicate it's a US military uniform. Not sure why French troops training in the US would wear an American uniform, insignia, ribbons, and have a US overseas bar...

[IrishGunner]

Peter, why would Free French soldiers wear an American uniform with US insignia, ribbon bar, and an overseas bar? It just doesn't seem logical.

Can you show the US insignia and ribbon bar you said are with the jacket?

I wouldn't say it's common to have a patch saying where one is posted, but the post-war stay-behind non-combat units had odd organizations. It could have been some type of military assistance or civil affairs unit working with re-establishing French governmental control in their liberated country. Having "France" on their shoulders would suggest they were "French" and not like occupation forces located in Germany or Austria. It was probably a more palatable way of having foreign troops - even allied troops - posted in France after having just been occupied. Remember, De Gaulle was very sensitive about this... COMMZ Europe - the support structure for all the US occupation troops was in France (this is not their patch - they had a different one - this I know for sure). Also SHAPE and the beginning of NATO were stationed in France; until De Gaulle ousted all foreign troops in 1966.

[RRA227]

Found it on line. Rich A. in Pa.

[Chris Boonzaier]

It is pretty much the same patch that French troops still wear today on occasion....

[IrishGunner]

It is pretty much the same patch that French troops still wear today on occasion....

True. Remember discussing this guy on another topic in GMIC:

I think the border of the patch is a different shade of green.

Edited December 20, 2014 by IrishGunner

[IrishGunner]

Of course, the Wehrmacht did have a similar patch for French "volunteers"

[Odulf]

Please note my earlier contribution: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php/files/file/35-insignia-of-the-us-armed-force-in-ww2/

Here it says: "Forces of France training with U.S. Troops"

[IrishGunner]

Odulf, thank you very much for an actual reference! That is very helpful. File #10 clearly shows the patch on a page titled "Miscellaneous US Units"

The label on the page suggests the patch was worn by French troops. Again considering this is a US military uniform with other US insignia, this also implies that US personnel assigned to a unit training French forces also wore the patch.

A period photo of the patch in wear would be really helpful.

But at least we have something more authoritative than the internet. Thanks again, Odulf!

[Chris Boonzaier]

Here is one of my old ones, from the late 80s, early 90s.....

[IrishGunner]

This is a link to the official US Army history entitled "Rearming the French"

Page 231 talks about training, including French cadres in US units and US advisors in French units. While I didn't find a photo of the patch in wear, the photos showing training have the French soldiers in French uniforms and the US soldiers in American uniforms.

Page 259 talks about uniforms - while specifically addressing an issue with women's uniforms - there is a sentence that states US uniform items issued to French forces would be worn with French buttons and insignia. One could assume that the restriction applied to all uniforms.

I still can't help but think this patch is somehow associated with the effort of "Rearming the French" and this particular example was worn by a US servicemember (because of the other US insignia).