79th Division Doughboy, World War One

Picked up this neat portrait at an antique show over the weekend.  Certainly an above average photo when it comes to insignia!  On his "overseas" cap he wears the "T" insignia of Supply Train units, meaning that he would have worked at a forward supply distribution point for an Infantry Regiment, probably close to the trenches.  On his left shoulder he sports a 79th Infantry Division patch, probably an early french made version.  This was a "National Army" (what is now known as Army Reserve) unit formed of men from Pennsylvania.   In the middle of his left sleeve is a red "discharge chevron", showing that he has been mustered out of the service but still allowed to wear his uniform in a veteran status.  His rank patch, if any would be on the opposite sleeve.  On his left cuff are two overseas service chevrons, each representing 6 months of service overseas.  And to make it even more interesting, he is wearing a rare 1918 pattern jacket with internal pockets.  This was designed for two reasons, first was to save wool (since the internal pockets would be made of cotton, as opposed to external patch pockets made from the same wool as the coat) and it also presented a cleaner, more european experience.

Bikini Beach: 170th Assault Helicopter Company, Vietnam

I don't normally go after insignia from the Vietnam war, but I stumbled across a small lot of patches and insignia from a guy who was a pilot with the 170th Assault Helicopter Company that included this wonderful Vietnamese made patch.  After reading up about this unit I can really see why Vietnam era aviation is a popular area to collect.  These guys flew UH-1 helicopters in both the gunship and troop transport ("slicks") configurations.  During their time in Vietnam they performed a wide variety of missions, including much time spent in support of Special Forces, LRRP, and SOG missions.  They operated in the Pleiku Province, located in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam and adjacent to the Cambodian border.   Due to their close proximity to the border, they flew many "over the fence" missions into Laos and Cambodia in support of Special Forces teams.   The company was in the thick of it for a little over five years (1965 to 1971), winning numerous awards and commendations and participating in some pretty "high-speed" operations.  And if you watch the original "A-Team" TV series, stock footage of a UH-60 belonging to these guys was used for the intro (seen here)

Here his a flight crewman wearing the "bakinis" patch on his flight jacket, Vietnam 1969 (found at the 170th AHC website here)