WWII Army Service Patches

 

Isn't this a great looking patch?  

I'm currently working with the Bethlehem Historical Association on an exhibit about what our town was like in the 1940s.  It will, of course, look at World War II service people as well as the home front. 

If you've got a minute, you can pop over to this blog post for a snippet from that era https://bethlehemnyhistory.blogspot.com/2019/06/a-wwii-story.html

As part of the exhibit prep, the committee is looking for things related to that era in Bethlehem.  I found an Army uniform in an antique shop in Coxsackie and scooped it up for the exhibit.  It had a couple of patches on it but no identifying information about who owned/wore the uniform.  

Various websites concur about the imagery of the patch above.  The thunder bolts are snapping the chains of Nazi oppression. The patch indicates service in the European Theatre of Operations - the ETO. 

One site specifies that it is part of the ADSEC, the Advanced Section, Communications Zone, European Theater of Operations, United State Army.  ADSEC supported the operations of the Army in a myriad of ways including establishing supply dumps and depots, reconstructing railways, repairing bridges and building fuel lines. One newspaper clipping I found reported that "One ADSEC Dump Has Food for 33,000,000 Army Meals" (Brooklyn Eagle, April 5, 1945)

Also on the uniform is the patch below. It has the wonderful nickname of the Ruptured Duck.  This is an honorable discharge insignia that would have been sewn onto the uniform jacket after the veteran left military service. 

With these two patches, we can speculate that the owner of the jacket served behind the lines in Europe suppling and supporting the front (maybe they were an engineer or truck driver or served in one of the ADSEC field hospitals) and that they were honorably discharged after their service. 

If you have 1940s related memorabilia, especially with a Bethlehem connection, I'd love to hear from you.  The BHA exhibit will be installed in the late fall this year - hopefully! We are planning to set up an "office" display and are on the look out for desk top items from that era, like fountain pens and an ash tray (remember when those were ubiquitous? - kind of hard to find these days!) 

Feel free to email me, sleath@townofbethlehem.org