General
- Nickname: Wildcat Division.
- Slogan: Wildcats Never Quit.
- Shoulder patch: A black wildcat on a black bordered olive drab disk.
The first division unit patch ever used by the Army was for the 81st Infantry Division. This unit trained at Fort Jackson, S.C., near Wildcat Creek. They created patches so they could identify each other quickly in combat. When the Wildcats went overseas in August 1918 to join the Allied Expeditionary Force in France, they wore this unusual, and then unauthorized, patch. Other units protested the shoulder patch idea and the dispute finally came to the attention of General John J. Pershing. General Pershing, however, approved the Wildcat Trademark and the esprit de corps of the division and suggested the other army divisions adopt patches. "History of the 81st United States Army Reserve Command 1917–1975" prepared by 317th Military History Detachment.
Read more about this topic: 81st Infantry Division (United States)
Famous quotes containing the word general:
“The General Order is always to manoeuver in a body and on the attack; to maintain strict but not pettifogging discipline; to keep the troops constantly at the ready; to employ the utmost vigilance on sentry go; to use the bayonet on every possible occasion; and to follow up the enemy remorselessly until he is utterly destroyed.”
—Lazare Carnot (1753–1823)
“To have in general but little feeling, seems to be the only security against feeling too much on any particular occasion.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“The general Mistake among us in the Educating of our Children, is, That in our Daughters we take Care of their Persons and neglect their Minds; in our Sons, we are so intent upon adorning their Minds, that we wholly neglect their Bodies.”
—Richard Steele (1672–1729)