Vintage WW2 34th Infantry Division Patch. In Excellent condition.

This is a shoulder patch for the United States Army 34th Infantry Division Patch.

The division was established as the 34th Division of the National Guard in August 1917, consisting of units from Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. On 25 August 1917, it was placed under the command of Maj. Gen. Augustus P. Blocksom, who was succeeded by Brig. Gen. Frank G. Mauldin briefly on 18 September 1917, but was back in command by 10 December 1917.

The division initially included the 67th Infantry Brigade, formed in August 1917 in the Iowa and Nebraska National Guards and the 68th Infantry Brigade. The 67th Brigade comprised the 133rd Infantry Regiment and the 134th Infantry Regiment. The 68th Brigade comprised the 135th Infantry Regiment and the 136th Infantry Regiment. A controversy arose when Brigadier General Frederick Emil Resche, a native of Germany who had long resided in Duluth, was accused of anti-American sentiments. No evidence was forthcoming, but Resche was still relieved of command, supposedly for inefficiency.

The division takes its name from the shoulder sleeve insignia designed for a 1917 training camp contest by American regionalist artist Marvin Cone, who was then a soldier enlisted in the unit. Cone’s design evoked the desert training grounds of Camp Cody, New Mexico, by superimposing a red steer skull over a black Mexican water jug called an “olla.” In World War I, the unit was called the “Sandstorm Division.” German troops in World War II, however, called the U.S. division’s soldiers “Red Devils” and “Red Bulls,” the division later officially adopted the divisional nickname Red Bulls.

34th ID Soldiers at Camp Cody, NM on 18 August 1918.
Brig. Gen. Frank G. Mauldin took command. The 34th Division arrived in France in October 1918, but it was too late for the division to be sent to the front, as the end of hostilities was near, with the Armistice with Germany being signed the following month.

Brig. Gen. John Alexander Johnston took command 26 October 1918, and some personnel were sent to other units to support their final operations. Charles Dudley Rhodes took command in December and led the division until its departure for the United States in January 1919. The 34th was disbanded on 18 February 1919 at Camp Grant, Illinois.

The 34th was subsequently federalized on 10 February 1941, with troops from North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa. The division was transported by rail and truck convoys to the newly constructed Camp Claiborne in Rapides Parish, Louisiana near Alexandria.

The soldiers started rigorous training including maneuvers in Alexandria starting 7 April 1941. The climate during the summer was especially harsh. The division then participated in what became known as the Louisiana Maneuvers, and became a well-disciplined, high-spirited, and well-prepared unit.

In the early phase of the maneuvers, General Walsh, who suffered from chronic ulcers, became too ill to continue in command, and was replaced by Major General Russell P. Hartle on 5 August 1941.

Shortly after its rebirth in 1991, the division began a process of reorganization and change that has continued to the present. One of the most significant developments was transformation from its old brigade structure into brigade combat teams and the broadening of its multi-state base. The Arden Hills-based 34th Red Bull Infantry Division provides command and control for 23,000 Citizen-Soldiers in eight different states. In Minnesota the 34th ID includes the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 34th Combat Aviation Brigade, 84th Troop Command and the 347th Regional Support Group. Known as the Red Bulls, the 34th Infantry Division is capable of deploying its Main Command Post, Tactical Command Post, and Division Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion to provide command and control for Army brigades.