Posted on 06/19/2007 6:49:35 PM PDT by RedRover
A fellow sent me an e-mail as follows:
I recently came across the patch below supposedly from the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Battalion of the 1st Infantry Division.
Do you know any thing about the so called “Deadly Deuces”? Any help would be appreciated as I have yet to find anything on the internet.
Beats the heck out of me so I thought I'd post it here in case anyone here knows...
Thanks, Vike! Anybody else?
Never heard of it, Red but it has a WWII ring to it.
Yes, it does but I thought the emphasis on brigades came in during Vietnam.
Yeah but it might not really be brigade or 1st ID.
True. It looks a little like something made for a reunion.
First Lt McGaughey, who had been talking to SSgt Sagredo, gave Glover a grid of the friendly lines and where he thought 2d Squad was located. But it was only a guess.With a couple of amtracs, four tanks, and six humvees from Weapons Co and three medical vehicles, Glover set out to find the missing Marines. Capt Smith rode in one of the medical humvees at the back of the column along with First Sergeant Scott A. Vandeven.
“Once we got to the grid, it was obvious we weren’t in the right place,” said Glover. There were apparently two columns of black smoke rising from Fallujah. One was from the Bravo trac that was burning, the other from trash. Once Glover realized the second column of smoke on the horizon was where the Deadly Deuces were hunkered down, Glover started heading that way.
When Capt Smith noticed the column was not moving as fast as it should, he grabbed his radioman’s rifle and ran to the head of the column where he took control of the situation.
Smith ran down the street ahead of the tanks, firing at insurgents as he went.
“We fought hard to get down there,” said Glover. The QRF must have been a sight for sore eyes when it came charging through the courtyard.
The above are Marines. They are fighting in Fallujah. If I recall correctly, the 1st Inf also fought one of the Fallujah engagements.
Based on the above encounter in Fallujah, perhaps the 1st Inf fought with the Marines and some industrious Marine (Deadly Deuce) came up with a patch just for that period of time.
Wow, that’s great, Chaplin, and more than I could find.
I sent a link to this thread to the finder of the item. Maybe what you found will be the clue he needed.
I think you found it, Chaplin when they referred to the Deadly Deuces.
Unit designators are based on the regimental system, not the brigade system. Infantry regiments got a certain 'set' of numbers, Armor another, Artillery yet another on down the line. I got this from a staff school I took many years ago, and wish now I kept that course work. I too have not found good documentation on the web regarding this.
Unit patches are division level, although separate brigades and battalions may also have distinct unit patches. There are quite a few separate brigades in the Army, but not too many separate battalions.
The YO-11 is my favorite Patch
http://northshorejournal.org/index.php/2005/08/heroes-capt-jason-e-smith
That’s terrific! I’ve never seen that before. Reminds me of the humor of the old Ivy (IV) of the 4th Div. (Don’t know if it’s been changed from WWII.)
I’m not familiar with that unit. What is YO?
Thanks for the link. I’ll go check it out.
LOL, YO-11 is a craps term.
Hence the dice with 6 and 5....that’s a Yo
My pleasure.
The patch itself, especially “THE 2D” at the upper right, looks passable, but less than professionally done, to me.
It could have been a special occasion type patch made up at a local concessionaire near a military base.
< Face red > Thanks! And I think I better stay out of dice games with you!
That all fits with it being a special comemorative. Night, Chaplin. And thanks again.
The Yo-11 is the 11th Corp US Army, active in WW11.
They aren’t active now, but they served in the Pacific theater.
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