U.S. Army Patches, Flashes and Ovals: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Cloth Unit Insignia

by Stein, Barry Jason

• ISBN13: 9780979161315
• ISBN10: 0979161312
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-01-01
• Publisher: Insignia Ventures Inc

Summary

U.S. Army Patches, Flashes and Ovals brings together in one colorful source more than thirty-six hundred cloth insignia worn by U.S. soldiers from World War I to the present. Picking up from where his well-known best seller U.S. Army Patches left off, Barry Jason Stein has gathered officially approved patches from both active and inactive units, as well as patches approved for local wear and many unauthorized patches, all of which offer unique insights into the U.S. Military. This newly expanded edition also includes pictures and information on beret flashes, airborne background ovals, selected Army and Air Force squadron patches, Special Forces pocket patches from the Vietnam War era and a special section on German Labor Service organizations of U.S. Army, Europe. Drawing on extensive research of government documents, Stein offers a brief profile of each army unit and a commentary on the significanse of its cloth insignia, in both historical and heraldic terms. He includes anecdotal information that makes the volume as entertaining as it is resourceful. In his inventory of the patches, Stein lists items of special interest, including the period and the battle campaigns in which they were worn and the meaning of their motifs. In addition, Stein provides an index which includes all previous designations by which the units have been known.

Author Biography

BARRY JASON STEIN, former owner of a major military insignia manufacturing company, became interested in military history while he was a young salesman traveling to military bases around the world. His sales initiatives in the field of insignia include the well-known ôSta-Briteö brand of no-polish insignia which he introduced to the Army PX system in 1989. Stein was born May 22nd, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, before embarking on a career in sales and manufacturing where he spent over 38 years. Stein is the noted author of U.S. Army Heraldic Crests the standard reference for distinctive unit insignia collectors around the world and the book which General Matthew Ridgeway once praised as ôunique in both scope and content [representing] in a symbolic sense, the entire sweep of U.S. Army history.ö His second book U.S. Army Patches (1997), was the predecessor to his latest endeavor, U.S. Army Patches, Flashes and Ovals which he hopes will do for patch enthusiasts what his first book did for crest collectors. Barry's other interests include painting and the community theaters. He and his family reside in Greenwich, Connecticut.