Insignia's

[DCook]

During WWII My Mother was a Navy WAVE Nurse, and my Dad was a Parachute Rigger in North Africa and Italy. They were Courting, and began a hobby between themselves of collecting sew on Insignia's. Many years later, my Dad handed me a box and said "Why don't you take these, the kids might like to put them on their jackets". When I had a little time, I looked through the contents of the box and found over 600 original patches of most every group that existed at the time. These are still in perfect, new condition, and some of these "Patches" still have their PX price tags on them. I got them all organized, and really wanted to display them for the Veterans at county fairs and the like for the 50th anniversary of WWII. I searched and searched for help in order to not offend anyone by displaying them incorrectly. I found no one interested in providing guidance, so they have never been displayed. I even contacted insignia manufactures, and joined online associations for insignia and metals. The only responses I got were a couple of guys wanting to buy a patch they were missing from their collection.
I thought I'd send this out in a posting, to see if anyone knew of a good resource to point me to??

[ashyers]

DCook,
I can't offer any help, but I'd say display them! Even if some are not totally correct the conversations around that would make it worth it. What a special collection!!!!

Andy

[NAM VET]

I agree, just display, and perhaps those who might have worn them back then are now gone. hal

[DCook]

Thanks for your encouragement guys!
My original thought was to get them all laid out in some logical order and attached to a OD woolen blanket. Then they'd be able to be hung like a wall hanging, and still transportable when rolled up.
Guess I'll just have to start and Git'er Done!

[vargaspj]

After reading many articles on collecting military memorabilia over the years I would not alter, try to mount them, remove any tags, or do anything else to the patches in any way. They need to be kept as original and untouched as possible. There are quite a few military and private museums that feature military memorabilia. I would do a web search and e-mail a few of them with your questions on how to keep and display your patches. It would be great for people to be able to see them but it would be a tragedy if they were somehow to deteriorate by improper preservation or handling since they could probably not be replaced.