16th Armored Division patch

[KatManDude]

hello all....I recently acquired some items that belonged to my great uncle who was captured in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge...I have a separate post elsewhere about that grouping but I am interested in hearing from some of the US insignia gurus about this patch....my uncle was in the 7th Armored Division but in his scrapbook he has this 16th AD patch....he was captured 12.21.44.....the 16th didn't go to Europe until February 45( I believe).....maybe he traded for the patch somewhere along the line.....

just wondering if this is indeed a WW2 patch.....

thanks in advance for your input !!

I've taken the liberty of adding coins for size reference and a post D-day US military issued 2 franc note which he had in his mementos...

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[Phill Lockett]

Hi mate

16th AD is definitely WWII era.

You will find a lot of momentoes from Allies and Axis amongst US items in GI's scrapbook.

Phill

[Rakkasan187]

Kat,

There is a possibility that your relative was assigned to the 16th AD after liberation from the POW camp and for processing to be sent home. It was not uncommon for Soldiers to be assigned to a Division that was returning home right after the war in order to expedite discharge and since your relative was a POW there was an effort to speed the process for those Soldiers to be discharged (when possible).

The 16th Armored Division has a unique Combat History (the shortest of all US Armored Divisions (3 days of Combat) and only 12 Soldiers wounded.

At the end of the war they stuck around Europe until October 1945 when they returned to New York.

It is feasible to say that after your Uncle was liberated (I believe by the Soviets) it took time to get the POWs repatriated with other Allies (US, England, etc.) so that may have taken some time, then he most likely went to a hospital for evaluation and re-nutrition rehabilitation and after that processing may have been sent to a rest/rehab camp like Camp Lucky Strike which was a center for POWs to rehab and begin the process of returning home..

Since the 16th Armored Division was rotating home the Army may have assigned him to that Division hence the purpose of the 16th AD patch in his mementos. He may not have had time to put this patch on his uniform or he maybe chose not to out of loyalty to the 7th AD..

This is just a scenario to think about but maybe his records at NARA (if they survived the fire) may reveal some more information..

Smitty