Original Item. Only One Available. The 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment was established shortly after U.S. entry into World War II, and was assigned as a regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, "The Screaming Eagles", one of the most decorated formations of the U.S. Army. The regiment saw substantial action in the European Theater of World War II and was inactivated in 1945, shortly after the end of the war.

This is a very scarce example of a pocket patch for the 502nd PIR, which was worn on the chest of jump jackets and field jackets (and occasionally as a shoulder patch), but it was never worn on the dress uniform. It measures approximately 3⅞” in diamater and is in fantastic condition, with some light staining from age, and waves in the edge, but otherwise it is in stellar shape. The construction of the back is entirely period correct, and this is the first original example we have ever offered.

The original 48-man Parachute Test Platoon was formed at Fort Benning, Georgia. Four parachute infantry battalions were planned to follow.

On 1 July 1941, the 502d Parachute Infantry Battalion was activated at Fort Benning under the command of Major George P. Howell, under orders dated 15 April. Howell had served as executive officer of the 501st PIB (not to be confused with the later 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment). Initially composed of two skeleton companies sliced off from the 501st, the 502d lacked much, from parachutes to small arms. This kept the battalion understrength until more men could be recruited at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Plans for the next two battalions—503d and 504th—were put on hold because there were no more men or equipment on hand at Benning.

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and the German declaration of war on the United States four days later accelerated every kind of military planning. On 30 January 1942, realizing a battalion was too small to conduct offensive operations and survive to fight again, the War Department hurriedly authorized the activation of four Army parachute regiments. Each of three companies of the 502d—A, B, and C—became the nucleus of a new regiment, including, on 2 March 1942, the 502d Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR)—the only one of the four parachute infantry battalions to have an unbroken tie to the later regiment of the same number. Howell was promoted to colonel and appointed commander of the 502d, but left that same month to command Benning's parachute school. He passed command to his executive officer, Lieutenant Colonel George Van Horn Moseley Jr., who would command for the next two years.

In August 1942, following the activation of the 101st Airborne Division at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, the 502nd PIR moved from Fort Benning to join the rest of the division at Fort Bragg. The integration of a selected parachute unit into a partly draftee division that for the most part was not jump-qualified led to problems, some of which could only be solved through training. Throughout the rest of 1942 and into 1943, the 502nd took part in the 101st's grueling training program, which consisted of individual, unit, and combined division training. In March 1943, the 502nd took part in a series of wargames across the Carolinas; later that year, it exercised across Tennessee.

On 4 September 1943, men of the 502nd boarded the SS Strathnaver bound for their new home in England. After breakdowns and saltwater contamination of the ship's drinking water, the regiment was stuck in St. John's, Newfoundland. On 4 October the SS John Ericsson picked them up, and they arrived in Liverpool on 18 October. They settled into quarters in the small villages of Chilton Foliat and Denford in Berkshire, England, which would be their home for the next seven months. The Regiment's troopers continued their rigorous training which included 15–25 miles (24–40 km) hikes and daily close-combat exercises. Instructions were given on a wide variety of topics, including first aid, map reading, chemical warfare, and demolitions. Other training was held on the use of German weapons, since enemy dead were considered a source of emergency resupply. Company- and battalion-sized parachute drops were rehearsed heavily. The largest of these rehearsals was Exercise Eagle, a division combat drop in May. It didn't go well; H Company dropped 9 miles (14 km) short of the objective, while high winds and rough landings injured over 400 paratroopers across the division, many of whom were then not available for the Normandy jump three weeks later.