Military Patch
1944-1945
9th US Army Cloth Shoulder Patch

During much of the Ninth US Army’s combat deployment in the ETO (European Theater of Operations) it was assigned to British Field Marshal Montgomery’s 21st Army Group. This arrangement went well since Ninth Army’s commander, Lieutenant General William H. Simpson, had a good rapport with the British Allies. After participation in the Battle of the Bulge, the Ninth was part of a massive attack across the Rhine on March 24, 1945.

Generals Eisenhower and Simpson watched from a church tower, as at 0100 hours on March 24, more than 2,000 field guns opened a devastating barrage on the enemy on the opposite bank of the river. The cannonade was so intense that the 65,261 rounds fired averaged a rate of 1,000 shells bursting every minute. Next, 1,406 B-17s dropped their bombs on the nearby German airfields. At 0200 hours several of General Simpson’s divisions made the crossing by boat with a loss of only thirty-one men.

Cloth. H 6.5, W 6.0 cm
Eisenhower National Historic Site, EISE 10384