Friday, September 11, 2015

U.S. Army Alaska


Authorized shoulder sleeve insignia (patches) used by the United States Army during WWII are many.  Various "Commands" and "Headquarters" reflected the wartime expansion, and many designs were to reflect their geographic location.  The above illustrates "US Army Alaska".

It is a blue disk showing the face of a white polar bear. [Not so white after some 70 years or so.]  The mouth is red, and a five-pointed star in yellow represented the North Star.  The polar bear on the patch is indigenous to Alaska.  The patch was to be worn on the left shoulder.  This insignia was discontinued in 1975.  North to Alaska they would say.

A reference to this is found:

"Shoulder Sleeve Insignia of the U.S. Army 1946 - 1989" by Richard W. Smith, 1978, p. 26.