Here’s a VINTAGE WWII –

28th INFANTRY DIVISION

IDENTIFIED SHOULDER SLEEVE INSIGNIA PATCH

The 24th Infantry Division was known as the “Pennsylvania” or “Keystone” Division.

During World War II, it was given the nickname the "Bloody Bucket" division by German forces due to the shape and color of its red keystone insignia.

The 28th is also one of the most decorated infantry divisions in the United States Army.

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Here’s an Authentic WWII period shoulder sleeve insignia that came from the former collection housed at the Records Branch, WDPC at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas!

“This patch came from the collection housed at the Records Branch, WDPC at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas donated by veterans returning for separation during 1945-6. The name on the patch indicates the GI who liberated the patch from his uniform. The collection was displayed on the wall of the Records Branch office at Fort Leavenworth, and was presented to the KDC upon deactivation of the WDPC.” (Note that the above inscription is contained in the album containing this fantastic collection of patches.)

According to the typed card, this patch was contributed to Fort Leavenworth Records Branch by Pfc Arvid Bell.

THE PATCH IS IN VERY FINE CONDITION.  IT MEASURES 2¼” IN DIAMETER and STAPLED TO THE DISPLAY CARD IDENTIFYING THE INDIVIDUAL WHO OWNED THE PATCH!

A WONDERFUL RELIC OF IDENTIFIED WWII MEMORABILIA WITH GREAT EYE APPEAL!

28th INFANTRY DIVISION WWII COMBAT CHRONICLE

The 28th Infantry Division ("Keystone")is a unit of the Army National Guard and is the oldest division-sized unit in the Department of Defense. Some of the units of the division can trace their lineage to Benjamin Franklin's battalion, The Pennsylvania Associators (1747–1777). The division was officially established in 1879 and was later redesignated as the 28th Division in 1917, after the entry of America into the First World War. It is today part of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, Maryland Army National Guard, Ohio Army National Guard, and New Jersey Army National Guard.

It was originally nicknamed the "Keystone Division," as it was formed from units of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard; Pennsylvania being known as the "Keystone State." During World War II, it was given the nickname the "Bloody Bucket" division by German forces due to the shape and color of its red keystone insignia. Today the 28th Infantry Division goes by the name given to it by General Pershing during World War I: "Iron Division." The 28th is the first Army National Guard division to field the Stryker infantry fighting vehicle, as part of the Army's reorganization in the first decade of the 2000s.

The 28th is also one of the most decorated infantry divisions in the United States Army.

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WORLD WAR II SERVICE

Federalization

The division, commanded by Major General Edward Martin, was called into federal service on 17 February 1941 during World War II and traveled to Camp Livingston, Louisiana for organization and training. In February 1942, the division, now commanded by Major General James Ord, was reorganized; the brigade headquarters were disbanded, and the 111th Infantry Regiment was detached from the 28th and reorganized as a separate regimental combat team, initially used to guard important Eastern Seaboard industrial facilities under the Eastern Defense Command.

Order of battle

The division trained in the Carolinas, Virginia, Louisiana, Texas, and Florida, under the command of Major General Omar Nelson Bradley.

Overseas

The division, now under Major General Lloyd Brown, left the United States and went overseas on 8 October 1943, arriving in South Wales soon afterwards, where it began training for the invasion of Northern France. On 22 July 1944, the division landed in Normandy, seven weeks after the initial D-Day landings and was almost immediately involved in Operation Cobra.

The 28th Infantry Division pushed east towards the French capital of Paris through the Bocage, its roads littered with abandoned tanks and bloated, stinking corpses of men and animals. In little more than a month after landing at the Normandy beachhead, as part of the Allied invasion of Normandy, the men of the 28th entered Paris and were given the honor of marching down the Champs-Elysées on 29 August 1944 in the hastily arranged Liberation of Paris.

After enjoying a brief respite, absorbing replacements of men and equipment, the division, now commanded by Brigadier General Norman Cota, formerly the Assistant Division Commander (ADC) of the 29th Infantry Division, headed to the German defensive Westwall.

A small night patrol of the 109th Infantry began the division's protracted struggle on the Siegfried Line on the dragon's teeth infested Westwall. The patrol crossed the Our River by bridge from Weiswampach, Luxembourg into Sevenig (Our), Germany, making it the first of the Allied armies to reach German soil. The 28th suffered extremely heavy casualties that autumn in the costly and ill-conceived Battle of Hürtgen Forest (19 September to 16 December 1944); the divisional history conceded "the division accomplished little" in the battle. The campaign was the longest continuous battle the U.S. Army fought in World War II. Finally, a tenuous line along the Or and Sauer Rivers was held at the end of November, only to be abruptly broken by two panzer divisions, three infantry divisions and one parachute division (including the 352nd Infantry Division and the 5th Parachute Division) in an infantry-tank attack on the "Ridge Road" just west of the Our River on 16 December.

The Ardennes Offensive was launched along the entire divisional front by the 5th Panzer Army led by General der Panzertruppe Hasso von Manteuffel. The 28th, which had sustained heavy casualties in the First Army drive to the Roer, fought doggedly in place using all available personnel and threw off the enemy timetable before withdrawing to Neufchâteau on 22 December for reorganization, as its units had been badly mauled.

At the end of November 1944 a German "pocket" of resistance formed in the French Alsace region centered in the city of Colmar. The Colmar Pocket consisted of a strength of eight German divisions and a brigade of Panzer tanks. Combined forces of French and American armies were initially unsuccessful in closing this pocket.

General Dwight D. "Ike" Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander on the Western Front, called the Colmar Pocket "a sore" on the 6th Army Group's front. The 6th Army Group was commanded by Lieutenant General Jacob Devers. The French First Army commander, Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, and Devers met on 11 January 1945 and agreed it was long since time to drive the Germans back out of France. Two days later, de Lattre and Devers made a request to Eisenhower for reinforcements so their armies could make an offensive on the Colmar Pocket. Eisenhower's aide, Major General Walter Bedell Smith, subsequently told Devers that the 10th Armored Division and the 28th were being placed under his command. Smith also warned Devers that, after three months of intense fighting on the Siegfried Line as well as fighting off the initial thrust of the offensive, the 28th—put back into action in a defensive position along the Meuse River from Givet to Verdun on 2 January 1945—was "capable of only limited offensive action."

Battle plans were soon made and, on 19 January, the 28th went into action on the northwestern section of the pocket in the Kaysersberg Valley supporting the beleaguered 3rd Infantry Division, which had been holding there since late November 1944. Despite the bitterly cold conditions, the Allies prevailed. German intelligence knew nothing about the 10th and 28th presence in their sector until they attacked. The 28th advanced westward and pressed steadily toward the city of Colmar. In less than 10 days they reduced the pocket by half and Adolf Hitler gave the order in the early morning of 29 January for a partial retreat of his troops in the northern sector of the pocket. By 2 February, the 28th had cleared Colmar's surrounding areas and the French 5th Armored Division led the way into the town. On 9 February, the final organized German troops in Alsace were pushed back across the Rhine.

The 109th Infantry Regiment received the French Croix de guerre from Charles de Gaulle.

The division was on the front line for 196 days of combat. Francis J. Clark was awarded the Medal of Honor; and 29 Distinguished Service Crosses ; 1 DSM; 435 Silver Stars; 27 Legion of Merit; SM - 21; Bronze Star Medal 2,312; AM - 100 were awarded. The division returned to the United States on 2 August 1945 and was inactivated there on 13 December 1945.

Casualties

  • Total battle casualties: 16,762[34]
  • Killed in action: 2,316[34]
  • Wounded in action: 9,609[34]
  • Missing in action: 884[34]
  • Prisoner of war: 3,953[34]

Assignments in ETO

  22 October 1943: V Corps, First Army.

  14 April 1944: XX Corps, Third Army

  24 April 1944: Third Army, but attached to First Army

  26 July 1944: XIX Corps

  30 July 1944: XIX Corps, First Army

  1 August 1944: XIX Corps, First Army, 12th Army Group

  28 August 1944: V Corps

  19 November 1944: VIII Corps

  20 December 1944: VIII Corps, Third Army, 12th Army Group.

  5 January 1945: VIII Corps, Third Army, 12th Army Group, but attached to Oise Section, Communications Zone, for supply.

  6 January 1945: VIII Corps, Third Army, 12th Army Group.

  8 January 1945: Third Army, 12th Army Group.

  9 January 1945: Fifteenth Army, 12th Army Group.

  16 January 1945: Fifteenth Army, 12th Army Group, but attached to Seventh Army, 6th Army Group.

  20 January 1945: French II Corps.

  28 January 1945: XXI Corps.

  14 February 1945: Fifteenth Army, 12th Army Group, but attached to Seventh Army, 6th Army Group.

  19 February 1945: 12th Army Group.

  21 February 1945: V Corps, First Army, 12th Army Group.

  16 March 1945: VIII Corps, Third Army, 12th Army Group.

  22 March 1945: V Corps, First Army, 12th Army Group.

  28 March 1945: III Corps.

  7 April 1945: First Army, 12th Army Group.

  10 April 1945: Fifteenth Army, 12th Army Group.

  13 April 1945: XXII Corps.

  26 April 1945: XXIII Corps

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