SeminoleOne Posted 1 February Share Posted 1 February Hello, I have recently discovered that my great grandfather was in the Sanitary Detachment, 304th Field Signal Battalion (enlisted-Private) which to my understanding was with the 79th Division. Records indicate that he made it into theatre in June 1918, participate in Meuse-Argonne; Defensive Sector. Got on a ship stateside in May 1919 and Honorably discharged in June 1919. I would like to find a WWI tunic to display with my grandfather's (son-in-law of great grandfather) items from WWII. I could use your help with determining what the proper shoulder insignia should be as well as collar discs? I look forward to learning from all of you and appreciate your help and consideration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner 87 Posted 1 February Share Posted 1 February 6 hours ago, SeminoleOne said: Hello, I have recently discovered that my great grandfather was in the Sanitary Detachment, 304th Field Signal Battalion (enlisted-Private) which to my understanding was with the 79th Division. Records indicate that he made it into theatre in June 1918, participate in Meuse-Argonne; Defensive Sector. Got on a ship stateside in May 1919 and Honorably discharged in June 1919. I would like to find a WWI tunic to display with my grandfather's (son-in-law of great grandfather) items from WWII. I could use your help with determining what the proper shoulder insignia should be as well as collar discs? I look forward to learning from all of you and appreciate your help and consideration. Hi SeminoleOne. Welcome to the forum. looking at the images of enlisted men in Company C, 304th Field Signal Battalion, 79th Division they wear the crossed flags collar discs. I believe it would make no difference what detachment of the battalion your Great Grandfather was in, the fact he was in a Signals battalion would determine the disc worn. The image is Private Lawrence R Cambell of the 304th. Gunner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 1 February Share Posted 1 February (edited) The collar disks described by gunner87 looked like this. Edited 1 February by FROGSMILE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeminoleOne Posted 1 February Author Share Posted 1 February Thank you for the help. This is excellent. Shoulder insignia would have come post war? and would they have worn the 79th insignia ? Thank you for your patience. My collecting and knowledge is mostly Marine Corps based. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner 87 Posted 1 February Share Posted 1 February 1 hour ago, SeminoleOne said: Thank you for the help. This is excellent. Shoulder insignia would have come post war? and would they have worn the 79th insignia ? Thank you for your patience. My collecting and knowledge is mostly Marine Corps based. I looked at the images in the history of Company C, 304th Field Signal Battalion, 79th Division and was unable to see a Divisional patch / SSI but this maybe because the soldiers had their photographs taken before May 1918 when the first patch was worn by the 81st Division and prior to other units adopted the practice. If the 304th wore a patch it would have been the Cross of Lorraine as you have posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 1 February Share Posted 1 February 1 hour ago, Gunner 87 said: I looked at the images in the history of Company C, 304th Field Signal Battalion, 79th Division and was unable to see a Divisional patch / SSI but this maybe because the soldiers had their photographs taken before May 1918 when the first patch was worn by the 81st Division and prior to other units adopted the practice. If the 304th wore a patch it would have been the Cross of Lorraine as you have posted. Like you I think it unlikely that a Divisional sign was worn before the subject was demobilised. For many units such things only really took off during the period of post war occupation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeminoleOne Posted 1 February Author Share Posted 1 February Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon92 Posted 1 February Share Posted 1 February Bay Sate Militaria has a good inventory of U.S. insignia and uniforms usually at reasonable prices. That might be a good place to look for the items you are seeking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeminoleOne Posted 1 February Author Share Posted 1 February 24 minutes ago, gordon92 said: Bay Sate Militaria has a good inventory of U.S. insignia and uniforms usually at reasonable prices. That might be a good place to look for the items you are seeking. Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4thGordons Posted 2 February Share Posted 2 February 14 hours ago, SeminoleOne said: Thank you for the help. This is excellent. Shoulder insignia would have come post war? and would they have worn the 79th insignia ? Thank you for your patience. My collecting and knowledge is mostly Marine Corps based. There are vanishingly few pictures of divisional patches prior to the armistice - but after the armistice and by the time units returned stateside they were almost universal and most tunics which men were issued with to be worn at demobilization (along with the red "honorable discharge" chevron sewn on the lower sleeve). Most divisional designs were not approved until after the armistice The patch you show (the cross of Lorraine) was the 79th Div patch (the example you show is a very nice one made of bullion wire there are much simpler ones made of felt cut outs and/or regular embroidery) The 304th Signal Battn are listed in the Orbat as "Divisional Troops" so not attached to a particular brigade Just FYI the 79th Division's movements were: July 6th Division moved to Port of Embarkation (Brooklyn NY) July 8-10 sailed for Brest (Fr) July 31 Artillery and 304 Supply Train landed in England and then proceeded to Le Havre and Cherbourg (Fr) July 19-29 Division (less artillery and 304 supply train) moved to the 10th Prauthoy Fr Training area Aug 5 154th FA and 304 Ammunition Train moved to artillery training area at Montmorillion Sept 6 Artillery moved to La Courtine Sept 8 Division (less Artillery) moved to Robert-Espagne Area Sept 15-25 Division (less Artillery) occupied Avocourt Sector (Lorraine) Sept 26-30 Division participated in Meuse-Argonne Offensive Sept 26 Division attacked towards Montfaucon and the Bois de Cunel - captured Harcourt and Malancourte Sept 27 Division captured Montfaucon Sept 28 Division captured Nantillois and Wood 268 Sept 30th Division was relieved and assembled near Malancourt Oct 8-26 Division (less artillery) occupied the Troyon Sector Oct 26-Nov 11 Division (less artillery) reengaged in Meuse-Argonne operations Oct 26 Division near Dieu sur Meuse Nov 3-4 Division advanced to Hill 370 and 378 Nov 7th Division reached Vaux-Rougieux Ravine Nov 9-11 Division captured Crepion, Wavrille, Gilberey and Ville-devant-Chaumont and reached the Gibercy-Ville-devant -Chaumont line Division spent 28 days in quiet sectors and 17 days in active sectors and suffered 1419 KIA and 5,331 wounded Nov 12-May 11th Division was in Souilly and Rimacourt areas before moving to St Nazaire for transport to USA Last units arrived in NY on June 11th and Division Demobilized at Camp Dix NY shortly thereafter. Tunics with signal corps insignia are relatively common (as are insignia free tunics to which you could attaching signal corps collar disks also relatively easy to find) if you are looking to find a 79th Division patched tunic with signal corps disks on you might need to be prepared for a long search! Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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