Feb
03
2010
May
21
2009
German Panzerfaust – Get more Business Documents
May
19
2009
The voyage across was made without undue incident, and on Oct 17, the Division began arriving in the Irish Sea off Belfast. Disembarking at the Irish port of Belfast, the units of the Division moved by rail to points in and County Down, North Ireland. They then marched to the billets they would occupy, in hutments, castles, manor houses, and factories, throughout the scattered Irish towns and hamlets.
Division Headquarters was set up in Armagh, the county seat of County Armagh, reputed burial place of Good St Patrick. Mastering the idiosyncrasies of the Irish language which proved to be a pure, clear English and not at all the brogue of Irish comedians on the American stage. The men of the Division fell in quickly with the customs of the country. They made friends readily with their amiable Irish neighbors and soon learned to tell a crown from a bob and stout from ale. One of the great surprises was the Irish weather. It was generally wet and overcast with long slow rains and heavy swirling fogs. There hovered constantly a blanket of mist which kept the countryside a dazzling green. Once the men got used to murky skies and boggy ground, other aspects of life in garrison became more pleasing.
Continue Reading >>>
May
17
2009
Members of the 2nd Infantry Division has been the wearers of the famed Indian Head Patch in five different wars around the planet. This insignia had its origin during World War One as the identifying insignia on the vehicles of the Division Supply Trains. The Commanding Officer of the trains held a contest in March, 1918, to select a distinctive identifying symbol for use upon the vehicles after he had seen the vehicles of adjacent French units decorated in this manner. Through his adjutant he sent out a memorandum authorizing prizes for the best designs submitted, with a first prize of forty francs. The winning insignia, which obtained the final approval of Division Headquarters for use upon supply train vehicles in April, 1918, was the striking red and blue Indian head, super imposed upon a white star. The head covered the reentrant angles of the star and exposed only the points. Maj Gen Omar Bundy, the Division Commander, and his Chief of Staff, Col Preston Brown, later Maj Gen Preston Brown, were riding in a command car one day in April when Gen Bundy’s eye was caught by the insignia emblazoned on a truck. According to a letter from Maj Gen Brown written some time later, Gen Bundy stopped the driver, asked the meaning of the device, and was told by the driver that it enabled him to find his vehicle in the dark. The letter does not bring out that the insignia had been authorized and was probably coming into use on all the vehicles of the trains but at that time and at any rate, the Gen and his Chief of Staff promptly sent their cars to the area to have the insignia painted upon them. In this manner the Indian Head became associated with the 2nd Infantry Division as its identifying insignia some time before it became the standard shoulder patch so proudly worn by men of the Division.
Continue Reading >>>
