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Contact me thru FaceBook name Ed Fusco

or Email Maasaw@Aol.com

My Collection of US Military Shoulder Patches and Custom Unit Insignia.

When growing up I had a lot of military items in our home due to military service extending from my Grandfather in WW1 to my Uncles in WW2 and both of my parents serving during the Korean War. My sister at one time sewed WW2 shoulder patches all over a jacket. In the mid-1970's I attended a Tech School to learn auto mechanics and there met recent Vietnam veterans and became good friends with several. Just before my 18th birthday President Nixon did away wiht the draft so I wasn't drafted or served but the war was all around me growing up. In Jr. High there was a huge movement to pressure the government to get our MIAs and POWs returned or accounted for. Silver band style bracelets were made with the name and Military ID of a soldier who was either missing or known to be a prisoner. Several of my more 'Hip' 12 year old friends managed to get a bracelet to wear theoretically until the return of the name on the bracelet. At times I read news stories of people who had worn a prisoner's name on their bracelet and then when he returned they went to meet him and give him the bracelet. It was heart warming and to us patriotic. Our parents had a different perspective. They grew up believing that whatever the government did was what was best for the country and that they never lied to the public. I was a kid so I didn't have an informed opinion. I had sat and looked at the faces of the newly reported dead soldiers from Vietnam in "Life" magazine and felt cold reading ages as low as 16. Kids almost my age who believed America was saving the SE Asian countries from communism. The faces in the magazine made it all the more real much like the photos of the civilians murdered at Mei Lai. My high school in Maryland was named for Robert e. Peary the Artic explorer and we had a mast from one of his ships in our athletic field and a dog sled in our trophy case. In front of the school was a ship's anchor and an almost unnoticeable humble stone structure that held a bell from one of his ships. On the sides of this bell tower were brass plaques wiht the identification of former students who died in Vietnam. On occasion a new death was announced and the principal would have a minute of silence for them and then ring the bell once for each name on the tower. Some were drafted and went immediately to boot camp following graduation and then to Vietnam to never return. The war officially ended in 1972 for the sake of the '72 election but full withdrawal wasn't completed until 1975 when I was involved in things kids were doing then and we just moved on and forgot about the war for the most part. My father gave me a copy of a book 'First Blood' to read and I loved it so much it was passed around to all of my friends. We were disappointed when a movie was announced stating Sylvester Stallone would play the main character. When it finally came out I resisted seeing it but when I finally did it wasn't quite like the book and Rambo's speech at the end was unlike the character in the book. ( who incidentally died at the end ) A few years later I was working alongside vets who were living as if they had just returned and not like it was five years previous. Most vets only spoke about their war experiences with other vets but a few talked to me and told me some pretty wild tales. War was nothing like the TV shows and movies I grew up watching. When I moved to Tucson I worked under a man who not only had been in Vietnam but had been in a Special Forces unit known as the "MACVSOG". He wouldn't talk much about his experiences and told me that when he got out of the service he was approached and spoken to by two plain clothes men who said they were from the government. For four hours they talked to him emphasizing they he will never be like he was before his service. He would have to work to transition from soldier to veteran but he would likely never be a simple civillian. When they finished with him he went to a cafe to get a coffee and think about all they had said. Once there he was accosted by two men who said they were from Israel's Mosad and they attempted to get him to join. He told me he was Jewish and held a duel citizenship with Israel and the USA. I bought a book about the MACVSOG and learned a lot about how president Kennedy put them together well before our forces were really even doing an advisory role. Their training was unlike other special forces and their missions were almost suicidal. My friend had told me that before each mission they had to turn in all insignia and personal identification including dog tags.If they were killed then officially it may be called a training mission or simply a lost plane with no known survivors. If captured they were considered spies and had no rights. Even all these years after the war members who were killed in action are still listed as missing officially. The uniforms were selected by the unit leader for each mission and generally there were no more than ten men in a unit. They were allowed to use weapons captured from the VC and often they were more reliable in the rain and mud than the M16. In the Viet Cong style of black 'pajamas' they usually didn't stir suspicion if seen by the enemy far behind the lines. Another guy I worked with years later found out I knew something about the MACVSOG and confessed he had been in it. During his time they did many missions in LAOS and Cambodia even though officially America had no troops in either country since they were officially neutral. He saw a shoulder patch I had and laughed at the idea of having any identifying patches or uniform. He said 'someone must have made that patch after they made it back home'. The MACVSOG was compromised of soldiers from all four branches plus the Navy Seals, Army Rangers and former Green Berets. It was an idea proposed by the head of the CIA and another man I met at AA meetings and became friends with told me how he had been 'drafted' into MACVSOG from the regular Army and from there into the CIA where he finally retired after 40 years. If anyone at AA had a good reason to drink it was he based upon some of the stories he told me. I wore an old field jacket in Winter and sewed a MACVSOG patch on one sleeve as a tribute to my friends and the brass balls they had displayed while young. SOG was officially disbanded in 1971 and from what I learned first hand from those who survived their tours I have the highest respect for them all. I began collecting unit shoulder patches around 1991 and quickly learned that real MACVSOG patches were very rare. They were hand sewn in country in very limited numbers. The patches often had a CCC,CCN, CCS on them along wiht their logo skull with pointed teeth and a beret. The initials stood for Command control Central, North or South and each area was distinct from the others with their own issues to deal with such as mountains or swamps. I went on to collect other Vietnam shoulder unit patches from a nice variety of units all heroic to me.
So I am proud to present my limited collection of patches from Vietnam, Korea and WW2. Even if you don't collect them they are interesting to look through. Prices vary and are as low as one dollar to as high as twenty. If a vet sees his former unit's patch here I will give it to him for free. If your father or grandfather or someone you are putting together a memory box for as a tribute I can also cut you slack. If you want to buy them all at once make me a realistic offer.

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