Theater-made Variations of SSI for
Merrill’s Marauders and The Mars Task Force By Steve and Dave Johnson Many theater-made variations of the Merrill’s Marauders patch are known to exist and a number of them have been described in the Trading Post over the years. Why are there so many variants? Probably there are several reasons, but mostly it has to do with the China-Burma-India Theater itself.
The CBI Theater was about as far from home as a G.I. could get in WWII. It was far from “the flagpole” and it was also at the end of the supply pipeline. We have discussed the distance from the flagpole as a factor in insignia design before, but the fact that priority of supplies went to the European Theater meant that the CBI Theater had to rely heavily on local procurement, especially for such non-critical items like insignia. It was also a huge theater of operations, spanning thousands of miles, and the coMerrill's Maraudersand was shared between the Americans, British and Chinese. These circumstances added up to an opportunity for the G.I.s to show some local initiative and they took advantage of it.
The CBI Theater had something else that helped make it interesting for those of us who pursue insignia. It had craftsmen who could produce insignia that were true works of art for very little cost. On the other hand, it also had craftsmen who could make some of the worst looking junk imaginable for even less cost. The result is that we see Merrill’s Marauders and Mars Task Force insignia that share a basic design, but vary greatly in style and quality.
Many times, when the patch has no tab, it is impossible to know whether the patch is from Merrill’s Marauders or the Mars Task Force and unless one knows the veteran who was the original owner, it would only be a guess. Of course, a number of veterans of Merrill’s Marauders survived that campaign and were well enough to continue with the Mars Task Force and could have worn either of the patches. Patches without the tab were not unusual and even the Merrill’s Marauders Association web page (www.marauder.org/marauder.htm) uses the basic design without a tab as a logo.
For the benefit of new collectors (may their numbers increase), we will take a moment to explain the background and symbolism of these patches. The 5307th Composite Force (Provisional) was created in 1943 as an American version of the British “Chindit” Long Range Penetration Group, which had shown some success under the coMerrill's Maraudersand of General Orde Wingate. The 5307th, code named “Galahad”, was coMerrill's Maraudersanded by Brigadier General Frank Merrill and was nicknamed “Merrill’s Marauders” by a war correspondent and the name stuck. BG Merrill suffered two heart attacks during the campaign and coMerrill's Maraudersand of the unit fell to Colonel Charles Hunter during the time that BG Merrill was convalescing. The unit could just as easily been called “Hunter’s Marauders”, but it would not have sounded as good. In any event, after the war even Colonel Hunter wore the patch with the “Merrill’s Marauders” designation on it as shown by the Japanese-made patch donated by his daughter.
After fighting for four months down the road from Ledo, the 5307th fought a pitched battle at Myitkyina, in Northern Burma in May 1944. Following the battle for Myitkyina, the Marauders were exhausted and under strength and the unit was reorganized as the 475th Infantry, which combined with the 124th Cavalry (a Texas National Guard horse Cavalry unit that had been converted to mules) to become the unit that was called the Mars Task Force. This unit continued the campaign to clear the Burma Road toward China. The two units—Merrill’s Marauders and the Mars Task Force were different units but since some of the troops served in both, and since they had essentially the same shoulder patch, they are often thought of as the same unit even though they were not.
The symbolism of the patch is that the 5307th was made up of six “combat teams” named for colors—red, blue, white, green, khaki and orange. The patch has the first four colors and khaki was supposed to have been represented by the uniform itself. For some reason orange was left out—it would have made it a tad gaudy, anyway. The white five-pointed star was for the Star of Burma and the white “sun” - actually the Kuomintang star – was for China. The red lightning bolt represents the striking power of the unit.
The patches in the accompanying illustrations show the wide variation in materials, shapes, sizes and styles of manufacture. Since these are all “hand-made” (although a sewing machine was used on some), variations between similar styles are coMerrill's Maraudersonly seen, including evidence that a few tailors were not paying attention and reversed the positions of the two stars. Some have tabs, but many do not. Perhaps they were intended to be worn with a separate tab as is the Mars Task Force shown. One patch has no tab, but is nonetheless identified to Merrill’s Marauders by the “Merrill's Marauders” embroidered on the two green panels. According to the veteran who owned it originally, this patch was made in Myitkyina, Burma, along with the patch that has “Merrill’s Marauders” all on one line. This is useful information to the collector since it helps identify the origin of other patches made in a similar fashion. Generally these patches came from either Burma or Assam, with the silk versions made in China. Assam was then part of India, but is now part of Bangladesh. As a rule of thumb, the better the workmanship in a patch, the more likely it came from India.
Since this article attempts to provide information on “theater-made” patches, we thought it would be useful to fellow collectors to illustrate some patches that were indeed made in the CBI Theater, but are not in fact, “period pieces.” They were sold in the early 1970s by a former ASMIC member and dealer who had them made in Burma for collectors who might not otherwise ever acquire such rarities. These patches are beautifully made and come in both wire and thread versions. They are very stiff and some have newspaper backing with Sanskrit printing on it. The bullion patches come in both silver and gold colored wire. They were made in both Merrill’s Marauders and Mars Task Force versions (there were also versions for the Kachin and the Jingpaw Ranger patches). At the 1973 ASMIC convention in Cincinnati, they sold for $5.00 each.
A final word about the availability of theater-made, correct-period, patches. Genuine theater-made Merrill’s Marauders and Mars Task Force patches are very scarce. But should they be? Most of the veterans of Merrill’s Marauders we have spoken to have told us they had as many as six of the patches at one time. They were cheap in India and Burma, even in bullion. There were 4000+ men in Merrill’s Marauders and even if we take the high casualty rate into account, there should be thousands of these patches out there. Attrition takes its’ toll however, and many get thrown away or lost. Combine that with a high demand to own an example from this illustrious unit and you have a scarce patch.
Our thanks to Ron Burkey, Tom McDougall, Jim McDuff, Mike Horetsky and Kevin Mahoney for their assistance in the preparation of this article. Article reformatted for the web by Associate Webmaster Paul Conrad please address any errors to this email address
© 2004 ASMIC and the article author (s) |
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