As a young boy I lived near Camp Polk, which was located near Leesville, Louisiana where my father worked during the Korean War. At that time the 45th Infantry Division, Thunder bird Division was stationed there prior to deployment to Korea. I collected many military patches in those days, but was most impressed by the 45th's Division patch --- the Thunder bird. Recently I put an image of that patch in my blog's side bar and while looking for that image made a startling discovery.
The first image below is the division patch from 1920-1939. The second from 1939-Present. Read full story here.
The first image below is the division patch from 1920-1939. The second from 1939-Present. Read full story here.
45th Infantry Division Patch 1920-1939
45th Infantry Division Patch 1939-Present
The twists and turns of history never cease to amaze me. Could the ancient native American tribes have known that a great symbol of theirs would be stolen by a mad man half a world away and discredited it for eternity!
Those are Nazi symbols aren't they?
ReplyDeleteDebbie
Right Truth
http://www.righttruth.typepad.com
That is really interesting and quite provocative. As somewhat of a history nut I found this fascinating. Who would have known what this symbol would come to represent in history.
ReplyDeletePatriotUSA, at one time I had quite a collection of old patches some from the Korean War, some from WWII and them many from the Vietnam era. Unfortunate they all got stolen along with my days stuff from WWII, but must admit I was shocke the other day to see the old 45th patch. Somewhere in the back of my mind I recall hearing of this, but it had been forgotten. Its a shame that native american symbol was co opted by the Nazi's. However that particular symbol goes way back into antiquity in European history.
ReplyDeleteJust think of the connotation the symbol of a teleprompter will have in 60 years.
ReplyDeleteI've known for awhile now that this was actually a symbol of balance or good fortune. I think we do a disservice to ourselves by eradicating the things in history that at some point may have represented a type of extremism.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same about the confederate battle flag. Today people view it as a symbol of slavery and want to erase from American history. However I see it more as a symbol for states' rights and the struggle to define us as a people. Some people will say I’m a racist, which is simply not true. What I am is someone that cherishes the symbols and events that made the United States the United States. The battle flag of the Confederate States of America is a part of our history and to erase it is to erase a part of the United States.
And that’s coming from a Yankee!
The state flag of Mississippi has a small section reserved for the old confederate battle flag---the people here got to vote some years back on it and decided it was fine. I have a battle flag, but don't fly it---haven't got a flag pole! Besides down here the state flag says it all!
ReplyDeleteI had heard that the swastika was a symbol that was used by native Americans. There is a public building in Boston-- o forget which one-- that has the swastika in the floor tiles because of the native American meaning, they actually have signs up explaining the meaning behind it and the reason that it is there because of the now infamous meaning behind the symbol.
ReplyDeleteThat is very interesting that is was actually on a US military patch at one time, before one man put such a notorious scar on it.
This means that the Native Americans also ceased to display the symbol as their own.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting Ron. History can play some very interesting tricks on us.
The swastika was used as a symbol of good luck by Native Americans, as well as by some Indian (as in, actually from India) groups. In the 1920s and 30s there was a sort of popular fad for that kind of symbol, so a fair number of places actually used the swastika as a symbol of good luck.
ReplyDeleteMy college actually had a building from that era with a swastika motif in the brickwork, that they couldn't remove without basically redoing the whole building. Every year or two someone would "discover" it. Got to the point where the library had a preformulated answer sheet they handed out explaining that no, the fraternity that built that house were not Nazis...
WOW-as a self sutdy-er- of true history - I was taken aback by this -then I read your comment :
ReplyDelete"shame that native american symbol was co opted by the Nazi's. However that particular symbol goes way back into antiquity in European history.
Now I wonder-:
Lief Erickson- Viking- 'discovered ' this continent----when Pilgrims got here & found that the Natives actually had 'castles' and some had blue eyes...
wonder if symbol came from history 2000 years ago --learned the above from self study ( to get into the DAR) :http://carolmsblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/his-story-2000-year-old-battle-that-led.html
notice that the Norsemen are mentioned as having a republican form of societal order...
C-CS