I am just finishing a rebuild of the Kentucky Commission on Military Affairs website. I decided to use heraldic insignia for the header. From left to right: Kentucky State Area Command (STARC); 123rd Airlift Wing; 101st Airborne Division (Ft. Campbell); US Army Training and Doctrine Command (Ft. Knox); US Army Materiel Command (Blue Grass Army Depot); US Army Corps of Engineers (Louisville District); 100th Training Division.
Kenneth,
That is a nice job! I especially like the "Puking Buzzard!" I was in the "Screaming Eagles" (A/2/503) from 1981-83.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Image6050.gif
The funny thing about Ft. Campbell is that about 3/4-ths of the installation is in Tennessee ... the reason it is "Ft. Campbell Kentucky" is because the post office is on the Kentucky side of the border.
—Guy
very nice!
Very attractive webpage design, Kenneth—a considerable advance on the KCMA’s current website layout. Your basic layout could even be described in heraldic terms as "Argent a chief Azure charged with ......"—)
Guy, what is the pentagonal charge in the arms you’ve displayed? It looks like the outline of the Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town, which was a prominent feature of SA military heraldry and insignia until fairly recently—is there a similar fortification in the USA?
Arthur,
The 503d Parachute Infantry Regiment’s coat of arms commemorates the regiment’s airborne assault on the Corregidor Fortress at the mouth of Manila Bay on 16 February 1945. I don’t think the image on the arms is intended as a realistic representation of Corregidor, merely a generic fort symbolizing Corregidor.
But to answer your question directly, there are a number of pentagonal "star" forts up and down the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States, of which the most famous is probably Ft McHenry, guarding Baltimore harbor, the defense of which in 1814 inspired "The Star Spangled Banner."
Joseph
Thanks for the explanation and the photo. The 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment’s arms are certainly a graphic representation of an airborne attack on a fort.
Fort McHenry looks very attractive. This is its Cape Town cousin ...
http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/6581/castleofgoodhope.jpg
... and one of its heraldic relatives, in the former arms of Defence Headquarters.
http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/8919/dhqcsint.jpg
The ‘castle’-framed emblem was the SA Defence Force badge, the golden swords indicate a headquarters, and the Roman II indicate the intelligence division within DHQ.
Airdrop at Fortress Corrigeador:
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-P-Triumph/img/USA-P-Triumph-p342.jpg
http://corregidor.org/Heritage_Battalion/nycum/gif/ch8a.h38.gif
The first drop (1/503) was made at ca 550 (nautical) ft. due to error. The 2/503d jumped 25 minutes later at the planned 400 (nautical) ft. elevation The highest point on Corrigeador (Topside) is 250ft above sea level. The plane-to-DZ distance was about 150ft ... the lowest combat jump in US history. Allow some error for altitude… I’ve read varying recollections, e.g.:
Quote:
In the first second, I have fallen over 150 feet towards "B" field, and I feel the jolt and look up to see a full canopy. There is just enough time to stop my oscillation. The wind is blowing me backwards, and I see a bomb crater in front of my feet. I drop into the crater, sliding part way down its side, landing full and fair on my back in a cloud of dust. It is as good a landing as I can hope for.
Source More Great Photos!
I was "Mr. Vice" at the 503d Regimental Dining In (1981) and our guest of honor was one of the paratroopers who made the jump. Quite a story! He said the actual air-ground distance was closer to 100ft.
P.S. I’m fairly sure the three parachutes in the DUI represent the three combat jumps the 503d PIR made during WWII: (1) Nadzab Village, Markham Valley, New Guinea, on 5 September 1943; (2) Noemfoor Island, New Guinea, 3 July 1944; (3) Corregidor, Phillipppines on 16 February 1945.
—Guy
And this is Tilbury Fort in Essex
http://viewfinder.english-heritage.org.uk/gallery/450/nmr/nmr_14972_20.jpg
The place of the missing point of the star is taken by the River Thames.
James
