WWII 4th division patch

[daurelio]

My Father was in Iwo Jima, 4th division Marines, and I have his uniform. He has the number 4 patch on his left arm (upper) and I have an additional #4 patch. Was this patch intended to be sewen on the right arm of his uniform?
Thanks for any info.

[Sgt Leprechaun]

No, the Marines in WWII only sewed the divisional insignia on to the left sleeve.

And, please fill out a profile.

Thanks!

[FistFu68]

I HAVE SEEN WW11 VETS,WITH THEIR DIVISION PATCH SEWN ON RIGHT SHOULDER,SIGNIFING THAT THEY HAD RETURNED FROM COMBAT WITH THAT UNIT.LEFT SHOULDER BEFORE,@ DURING!!! ONLY ON ONE SHOULDER,EITHER OR?

[daurelio]

Thank you.

[Sgt Leprechaun]

Army is allowed to. Fist, if you have photos or know of any someplace to show that, I'd like to see it. For Marines to do it, that's pretty rare to see.

[FistFu68]

I'LL HAVE TOO GO THROUGH MY ARCHIVE PIC'S BUT,I HAVE SOME OF JOHN BASILONE,AND A FEW HIGH RANKING MEMBERS OF THE 1ST.MARINE DIVISION.AFTER RETURN FROM GUADALCANAL,AND SOME CODE TALKERS;WITH THE PATCH ON RIGHT SHOULDER.I'LL TRY AND GET THEM SCANNED IN HEAR FUTURE.

[Sgt Leprechaun]

That would be cool to see, since it was totally unauthorized by any USMC regs. And we all know how much Marines adhere to regs...esp in wartime!

heheheheheehehehee

[Eric Hood]

I would like to see that too. I remember that Basilone was on the cover of a national magazine, he had the patch on the left shoulder.
Eric

[Sgt Leprechaun]

Gents, I stand corrected. Obviously, it was done..here's the proof!



It's even dated (1943) and it CLEARLY shows right side 'combat' patches being worn by no less than MajGen Vandegrift himself!

And the article even mentions the right side patches being worn.

Again, I stand corrected.

[FistFu68]

THESE PIC'S WERE IN THE SPECIAL ADDITION OF LEATHERNECK MAGAZINE OF THE 1ST.MARINE DIVISION,CIRCA,LATE 70'S.UNLESS THEY WERE A PIC OF A PIC,BUT I NOTICED AT THE TIME THEY WERE WEARING P**S CUTTERS BUT (EGA)WAS ON THE LEFT SIDE OF COVER.I'M TEARING MY HOUSE UP NOW LOOKING FOR THEM NOW.WITH ALL THE STUFF I HAVE GENERATIONS OF THIS HISTORY HANDED DOWN.BUT WE WILL GET IT SORTED OUT.S/F

[FistFu68]

THAT'S THE ONE MARINE,THANK'S NOW HELP ME CLEAN UP THE MESS(LOL)THANKS SGT.L!!!OOHRAH

[Sgt Leprechaun]

Sorry 'bout that! Owe ya a beer. LOL

[drw03]

Somewhere, somewhere, I have a photo with a patch on the right sleeve. But I never payed attention to it befor, because of years in the Army with the patch on the left and the right. I wear one on both, it just never rang any bells.

[gus]

I have a book about USMC uniform of ww2.
They said in it that Marine have to wear patch as the army while they were in new zealand. It wasn t in the rules but they had to do it so they can be recognise by people.
I will check it later and add some information.

[gus]

I search in my book and here it s what i found
The Marine first wear an insigna in ww2 in the island(the contry). They wear it on both side and it wasn t an american insigna. It was the 49th british division patch. The rules were clear, they had to take it off when theyu left the contry.
Here are 2 photos of
Marines wearing them in 1941


The first american insigna wear by Marines was the 1st division "guadalcanal".
For what I read in my book, 1st division came back in australia; Lieutenant colonel Meril B Twining saw that lots of Marine wear the army utility because they had problem to receive the usmc one and their uniform suffer from guadalcanal fight.
The low moral, Marine wearing army uniform and a problem to recognise themself made Twining and captain Donal Wilkinson drawing the new insigna.
The book is "USMC uniforms and equipment 1941-1945" by Bruno Alberti and Laurent Pradier; edition "histoire et collection.