How to identify WWII unit patches?

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 14:39:07 -0400

My grandfather served in the Army during WWII, having been drafted straight out of high school. Unfortunately (but understandably) he never spoke much of his service. I do have a picture of him in uniform with a unit patch visible, but have been unable to identify it. I know it would be near to impossible to find records specific to him, but I would be happy to learn his unit's history. Any advice or direction to someone who can identify WW2 unit patches would be appreciated.

Response by SSG John Erny made Oct 3 at 2014 2:41 PM

SSG John Erny — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 14:41:49 -0400

You can contact the national records office in St. Louis MO. The VA has a large database

Response by COL Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 3 at 2014 2:45 PM

COL Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 14:45:01 -0400

Need to see a picture of the patch.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 3 at 2014 2:56 PM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 14:56:43 -0400

Here's the original picture.

Response by SFC Mark Merino made Dec 1 at 2014 11:17 PM

SFC Mark Merino — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 23:17:20 -0500

1LT Sandy Annala has worked miracles with this type of thing in the past. I don't know the specifics, but she came up with amazing results using another old faded B & W photo.

Response by MSG Brad Sand made Dec 1 at 2014 11:34 PM

MSG Brad Sand — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 23:34:04 -0500

Can you post the picture? If we could see the patch, we might be able to help?

Response by SSG Tim Everett made Dec 2 at 2014 12:44 AM

SSG Tim Everett — Tue, 02 Dec 2014 00:44:02 -0500

ADSEC

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADSEC

ADSEC - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ADSEC or ADSEC/COMZ represents "The Advance Section, Communications Zone", European Theater of Operations, United States Army (ETOUSA), which was formally activated at Bristol in February 1944. It is commonly referred to as simply "ADSEC". This was a U.S. Army logistical agency, the first on the Continent. Upon its creation ADSEC was attached to the U.S. First Army, and gradually took over the Communications Zone activities. The agency moved...

Response by SGT(P) Harry Clyde Jr. made Dec 2 at 2014 2:18 AM

SGT(P) Harry Clyde Jr. — Tue, 02 Dec 2014 02:18:04 -0500

Just throwing it out there, but google WWII order of battle. My father has two of these types of books, one on vietnam and one on wwii with units participating and AOs patch pictures and equipment patches. Also you can google units of WWii.

Response by SGT(P) Harry Clyde Jr. made Dec 2 at 2014 2:20 AM

SGT(P) Harry Clyde Jr. — Tue, 02 Dec 2014 02:20:30 -0500

Also, some units are regional so if you know where he was from or living at the time of draft or induction you can stsrt there by googling units that came from that region.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 2 at 2014 8:42 PM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 02 Dec 2014 20:42:56 -0500

You can also try ancestry.com, where the site has access to military service records from WWII. I was able to locate my grandparents service records this way. Good luck.