I.D. a Marine corps unit insignia please?

[Tokugawa]

My buddy just passed away unexpectedly. He was a two tour Marine vet of Vietnam. He never spoke of his service. In his kit was a cloth embroidery badge of a bulldog wearing a WW1 style helmet. Can any of you jarheads id this for me? I would like to know what unit he served with.
Rest in Peace Steve.

 

[Rumble]

I'm very sorry for your loss.

I'm not a Marine, but I am a librarian and like to look stuff up. It sounds like it was a USMC Devil Dog patch: http://www.emarinepx.com/aw-121.htm.

I'm not sure it actually denotes a particular unit, though--someone with more expertise will have to answer that.

 

[BADUNAME13]

Too general... here's a place to start:
http://usmcshop.grunt.com/Grunt/search_results.asp?

 

[TimboKhan]

Though there are unit patches, the Marines never actually wore any sort of unit insignia, at least to the best of my knowledge. For example, I have a 1/7 patch, but it was never worn on any uniform and was given to me more as a momento or a collectable than it was in the form of any sort of official unit desgination.

The link to Sgt. Grit provided will likely be the best place to look, especially because they generally stock the older designs as well as the newer ones. I did a quick cursory search and didn't find anything, but I didn't look at every patch, either.

Sorry for your loss, and Semper Fi.

 

[qlajlu]

Does that patch look anything like this? This is a generic "Devil Dog" patch.

​

There are a whole fistful of variations of the "Devil Dog" on different patches. There are some units that incorporated it into their unit insignia also. "Devil Dogs" is one of several nicknames given to the Marine Corps and the Bulldog is their mascot. Patches other than rank insignia are not worn on Marine uniforms, or at least were not worn while I was in. Unit insignia would be displayed on signs and on unit flags. Unit patches and patches such as the one shown here would be sewn to ball caps and such for unofficial wear or for collecting and trading.

Things do change, but since your friend was a Vietnam Vet, I doubt he wore insignia or patches on any of his uniforms other than rank. However, pilots and flight crews were the exception and would sometimes have patches on the shoulders of their flight uniforms identifying the flight squad they were assigned to, but ground troops never displayed them. In the jungles, even rank insignia would be removed to prevent the officers and high ranking NCOs from becoming sniper targets.

You can go to The Leatherneck Forum which is a forum like THR for Marines and by Marines, register and ask on that board. It would be advisable to have a photo of the patch, or at least a very detailed description to post if/when you do, especially if the patch you have is a unit insignia.

 

[tegemu]

During WWII, Marines wore division and some other patches.

 

[ar10]

can't recall the exact web site but it's a VN vet org, they could probably find his unit, There's also USMC group that can locate the guy/unit.

 

[Tokugawa]

Thank you.

 

[SWMAN]

Check out this site for USMC unit/division patches from WWII.

Semper Fi.

http://www.angelfire.com/md2/patches/usmc.html

 

[Walter]

qlajlu

Thanks for turning me on to that Leatherneck Forum website.
I never knew about it until I read your post.

Semper Fi,

Walter

 

[qlajlu]

Thanks for turning me on to that Leatherneck Forum website.
I never knew about it until I read your post.

Isn't it strange what tidbits of information we pick up here on THR?

Glad I could help.

Semper Fi!