Can anyone identify a US Army pin, and tell me what it signifies? It was on a class A uniform on the left epaulet. It is a silver shield with 8 black horse shoes around the edge and a red square in the center with jagged edges. Thanks for any assistance
Thanks redleg13f, that appears to be it. The only difference is the color of the horse shoes. That brings up another question though. Would this item be worn with a patch from the 1st Air Cavalry? I'm building a shadow box for my daughter-in-law honoring her deceased father and am not sure if I should add the shield. Thanks again...
That's hard to say from just a pin and a patch. I'm assuming he was a Vietnam Vet, and the 8th was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division there. An excerpt from the 8th's history on Globalsecurity.org:
In 1965, the 8th Engineer Battalion served the nation in the jungles of Vietnam with the dual mission of supporting combat operations and of constructing support facilities for the Army, sister services, and allied nations. Using the new air-mobile capabilities, the 8th Engineer Battalion built signal complexes and firebases throughout the country in areas that would have previously been inaccessible. These firebases created stepping stone allowing for the initial invasion into Cambodia in May of 1970.
You need to have more details on the veterans' service history to really be sure, though.
Thanks redleg for all your help. You hit the nail on the head. I have a copy of his DD214 and that tells the story. There may be a typo that evidently wasn't caught. It has last duty assignment as "APO 96490 USARV CO.B 88th ENGR BN 1ST CAV DIV (AMB)" So I assume the 88th should be 8th. He served from Nov64 to Aug 67. Thanks again I really appreciate it.
No problem. Careful, though. The 88th was in Vietnam too. It was re-designated from 88th Engineers to 88th Supply & Service Battalion on 14 July 1967. It has Vietnam Campaign Credit both before and after July '67. But it doesn't seem to show up in the 1st Cav's Order of Battle for Vietnam, so you may be right with the typo. On the other hand, his 'last unit' was right at the time of the re-designation in the Summer of '67. He could have had leave saved up and been with the 88th as an Engineer when they re-flagged and his discharge wasn't effective until August. Of course he had an 8th Battalion DUI, and APO96490 was used by 1st Cav units, so... Hey, just trying to make things difficult for ya...
You may also find this of interest; +++http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/star/images/1819/18190107001m.pdf
Thanks again, I have to believe that he was with the 8th as that is the shield that was on his uniform. Although, I do appreciate the additional information.
