Courtesy Photo | WWII-era cartoon by Sgt. Sam Wiseman for the "Indianhead" newspaper, circa 1944.... read more read more
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CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea -- A box of patches and medals sits on a dusty shelf in the family study. A young man accepts the lieutenant’s bars placed on his shoulders, as an older man wearing a veteran’s cap salutes the new officer. Brothers stand shoulder to shoulder, each of their matching dress uniform name plates gleaming in the sun.
Military service is more than a job, it’s a vocation that sometimes carries deep family legacies. For one family, the Benedicts, this sentiment is embodied in a black and white Indianhead patch that now hangs, encased in glass, in the 2nd Infantry ROK U.S. Combined Division headquarters at Camp Humphreys. This is the story of that patch, and its multigenerational trek around the world back to the unit it symbolizes.
As U.S. Army unit patches go, the 2nd Infantry Division’s shield-shaped shoulder insignia is quite large, outsized only by the 1st Cavalry Division’s yellow and black triangular shoulder worn logo. The patch is one of the most recognizable military crests, a Native American face in profile, wearing a feathered headdress with a white star and black background, as famous as the 101st Airborne Division’s “Screaming Eagle” or 1st Armored Division’s “Hell on Wheels” triangle. In recent years, a tab was added to the top of the patch with the words “Combined Division” in both English and Korean, as the 2nd Infantry became the only combined Division in the Army.
Our story begins in Europe during World War II with SGT Benedict, a tank commander from Vermont who made it a point to trade patches with every unit he encountered. In December 1944, the German Army launched the Ardennes Offensive, known to Americans as the Battle of the Bulge, and Benedict found himself and his tankers fighting alongside units from the 2nd Infantry Division. Benedict, in keeping with his personal patch trading tradition, was gifted the Indianhead patch. From those frozen Belgian forests, Benedict carried the patch for the rest of the war. Upon returning home to Vermont, he packed away the patch collection he had amassed, and continued to serve until reaching the rank of Sergeant Major.
The Indianhead patch Benedict had collected stayed in Vermont while the next generations of Benedicts grew up and served in the U.S. Army. William Benedict, Now-Sergeant-Major Benedict’s son, commissioned as an engineer officer from the United States Military Academy at West Point, and served for ten years. Keith Benedict, Sergeant Major Benedict’s grandson, followed in his father’s footsteps and graduated from West Point as an infantry officer.
Two decades later, Colonel Keith Benedict took command of the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, also known as the “Mountain Warriors”. In May 2023, the Mountain Warriors deployed to Korea and assumed responsibility as the Korea Rotational Force organized under the 2nd Infantry ROK/US Combined Division.
Our story ends on a crisp Korean autumn day when William Benedict made the trip to Korea with the Indianhead patch in his luggage. Sergeant Benedict’s patch was placed under glass and in a short, intimate ceremony at the modern 2nd Infantry Division headquarters, Col. Benedict presented the relic from a long past battlefield to Maj. Gen. William “Hank” Taylor, the current commander of the 2nd Infantry Division. 75 years and thousands of miles later, the patch was back with the warriors of the 2nd Infantry Division.
| Date Taken: | 12.15.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 12.15.2023 00:49 |
| Story ID: | 460012 |
| Location: | PYONGTAEK, GYEONGGIDO [KYONGGI-DO], KR |
| Hometown: | COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO, US |
| Web Views: | 209 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Lineage and Legacy: A Unit Patch’s Journey from Belgium to Pyongtaek, by CPT William Romine, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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