"Please", Thank You" and proper manners appreciated
My greatest fear is that one day I will die and my wife will sell my guns for what I told her I paid for them
"Don't tell me these are investments if you never intend to sell anything" (Quote: Wife)
I wanted to revisit this post and show my German made Expert Infantryman's Badge that I wore on my dress uniform.
I have shown 3 examples of the EIB the top 2 being US made and the bottom is German made.
You can see that the German made award is a two piece award where the musket was mounted onto the blue enamel field. You will notice that the US made versions are flatter and more 2 dimensional and don't carry with it the depth.
You will also notice the very pronounced German pin system on the back of the German award.
Smitty
Is the German one a private purchase, and are the US versions military issued then?
HVM,
Greetings.. my apologies for not answering sooner.
The German made EIB was a private purchase item and the 2 US EIBs were issue items. At McNair Barracks in Berlin, Germany where I was stationed there was a small gift shop on post where they sold German made items such as the EIB and the German sports badge, Shutzenschnur and patches and things. Each of the awards that were sold in the gift shop were authorized for wear (if the Soldier had participated in the training). Since many of the Soldiers had multiple dress uniforms (dress greens and dress blues) it was easier to purchase a second set of awards rather than taking them off one uniform and placing them on the other depending on what event they were attending. (Some required dress green uniforms and others dress blues). There were also large jacket patches and other items that could be purchased and many Soldiers would order their "Tour Jackets" just prior to leaving Berlin. A tour jacket was a custom made jacket that usually had patches sew on the back of the jacket and the name embroidered on the front with the tour dates the Soldier served in Berlin. Very similar to the Vietnam era tour jackets..
The shoulder sleeve patches that were worn on the battle dress uniform and our dress green uniforms were German made BEVO weave patches (which were available at clothing sales) and some of our unit crests were also German made.
The Command never really had any issues with the Soldier's wearing the decorations that were German made and many admitted that they looked better than the US issued awards.
Smitty
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