In honor of the soldiers who went ashore 69 years ago today, the arms of the main American units that landed on the Normandy beaches on June 6, 1944. (Note: Ranger battalions in 1944 had no unit coats of arms.)
Omaha Beach
116th Infantry Regiment
16th Infantry Regiment
“http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/ImageProxy.ashx?n=1&t=original&id=6422[/IMG]<br /
18th Infantry Regiment
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/18_Infantry_Regiment_COA.png
115th Infantry Regiment
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8e/115InfRegCOA.PNG/116px-115InfRegCOA.PNG” class=“bbcode_img” >
Utah Beach
8th Infantry Regiment
12th Infantry Regiment
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/12_Infantry_Regiment_COA.png
22d Infantry Regiment
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/22_US_Infantry_Regiment_COA.PNG
Airborne Landings (82d Airborne Div)
505th Parachute Infantry Regiment
(Note: These arms were not granted until 1952. I don’t know if the unit had arms in 1944.)
507th Parachute Infantry Regiment
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/507_INF_REG_COA.gif
508th Parachute Infantry Regiment
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/508_INF_RGT_COA.gif
Airborne Landings (101st Airborne Div)
501st Parachute Infantry Regiment
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/501PIR_CoA.gif
502d Parachute Infantry Regiment
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/502_Parachute_Infantry_Regiment_COA.PNG
506th Parachute Infantry Regiment
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/506InfRegtCOA.gif
Another one.
70th Tank Battalion (Utah Beach)
(The crest postdates the Normandy invasion.)
4th Engineer Battalion (Utah Beach)
743d Tank Battalion, Omaha Beach
741st Tank Battalion, Omaha Beach
319th Glider Field Artillery Battalion
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/319FARegtCOA.jpg/100px-319FARegtCOA.jpg
320th Glider Field Artillery Battalion
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/320FARegtCOA.jpg
Both landed on the evening of June 6.
Joseph McMillan;99205 wrote:
319th Glider Field Artillery Battalion
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/319FARegtCOA.jpg/100px-319FARegtCOA.jpg
Ft. Benning?
Thanks for this thread, Joe. There is some really nice heraldry in there.
Kenneth Mansfield;99207 wrote:
Ft. Benning?
No, Fort Gordon. The 319th was organized and trained there before being deployed to France in 1917.
I hope you don’t mind a quasi-heraldic British interloper.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/166661_151914384862043_804396_n.jpg
79th Armoured Division (my father and maternal grandfather’s mob) which landed everywhere except Omaha.
James
Joseph McMillan;99208 wrote:
No, Fort Gordon. The 319th was organized and trained there before being deployed to France in 1917.
Thanks. It had the only obvious state reference I noticed in a shield. I forgot Georgia has more than one base.
Thanks for compiling this list Joe, it’s a fitting tribute.
Thank you for doing this.
We must remember.
Most of the USAAF troop carrier groups that flew the airborne troops to the drop/glider landing zones had no arms in 1944 (their component squadrons generally would have had insignia, of course), but three did have full-fledged arms that would have been worn on the uniform and embroidered on the respective group colors.
313th Troop Carrier Group
http://www.ericsusafpatches.nl/Airlift/Wings/313 TAW001.jpg
(The picture shows the arms as borne by the USAF successor unit, the 313th Tactical Airlift Wing.)
314th Troop Carrier Group
http://www.koreanwar.org/html/images/usaf/314tcg.jpg
"Or, on clouds in fess, azure, two boots passant of the field, ornamented gules." Since replaced by a less original design.
315th Troop Carrier Group
http://www.koreanwar.org/html/images/usaf/315tcg.jpg
"Azure, a winged packing box bend sinisterwise or."