Battlion Distictions

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My Image File BATTALION DISTINCTIONS:  When the 1st of the 48th came to Coleman Kaserne in the Summer of 1963, the 2 battalions uniquely distinguished themselves from one another as follows:

 

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Neck scarves: The 1st of the 48th wore an infantry blue ascot/dickie/neck scarf with their work uniform, and also  as  part of their parade uniform it  required an embroidered 48th Dragoon unit crest on the  front and center on the scarf.  By the 1970's the additional phrase "Blood and Guts" was added underneath the Dragoon shield on the neck scarf.  The picture at right is of James Helton taken c. 1972.  James is remembered for going through Gelnhausen in convoy with his tank when a pin sheared in the axle and he ran right over the top of a Volkswagen! Going down a winding road on the backside of town he said it happened again (pin sheared), and he ran into the side of a house. After that, he figured out a way to stop the pins from shearing, and ended up fixing all the tanks.  Thanks Jim!

 

2d of the 48th wore blue cloth backing to the metal 48th Dragoon unit crest insignia worn on both Class A and fatigue uniforms.  This blue background was also on embroidered crests worn on fatigues.  So, the 2d of the 48th didn't have the embroidered crest on their blue scarves; and, the 1st of the 48th didn't have the blue cloth backing to the 48th distinctive unit insignia crest.  My Image File

There were some distinctions within specialized units withinScarfScouts.gif (26291 bytes) battalions.   The Scout platoon of the 1/48th wore a red and white scarf (the old U.S. Cavalry colors), much to the displeasure of high level  officers. They also wore the special patch shown at the right for about a year in 1963-4.  It has a
tank,113,mortar and scout jeep. When 1/48 was formed it had a Recon Plt. and that's what made up Recon. When we got M114s about 6 months or so later we became a Scout Plt. and didn't wear the patch anymore. There were only a few of these made and Dick Allen happens to have 2 of them. The first Plt Sgt of Recon was SFC Lanning. The infantry squad leader was Sgt E-6 Hettenhauser.  (Thanks to Dick Allen for image)

Medics wore a maroon colored scarf, the color of the Medical Service Corps. 

The use of scarves was discontinued about 1978.

Officers' Uniforms:  On the Infantry crossed rifles worn on Officers' 48CrossedRifles.jpg (68416 bytes)dress greens and dress blue uniforms, a "1" or a "2" were added beneath and centered between the crossed rifles. My Image File  

In addition to uniform distinctions, there were difference in salutations to stimulate battalion sprit.  When saluting an officer a Dragoon of the 1st Bn would greet; "The First, Sir!" AND, the parallel salutation from the 2nd Bn Dragoon was "Second to None, Sir!".  At some point the 1st Bn salutation changed to "Blood and Guts!"  But one medic, who insisted on shouting, "Plasma and Intestines!".