Was the 30th Infantry Division the best American division of WW2?

[kdalton]

My son is in the 30th brigade, the successor to the 30th Infantry Division - and they still wear the patch on their shoulder that reads "Roosevelt's SS" on it on their uniforms.

 

[M.Koch]

Wow... These are wartime patches.


Would be interesting to see the (inofficial) patch from your son...

 

[Grumblejones]

Partial to the Thunderbirds of the 45th.

 

[Hutch]

GJ: Have you watched "The Liberator" on Netflix about the 45th?

 

[KhandidGamera]

I bet, that in any army at least half a dozen units will make the claim to be the best one of the whole damn zoo.

I also think that in no case there is a definite answer.

von Marwitz

One of my take aways from 'Brothers was how perishable "best" status can be when you lose/shift key leaders, ect. It's a moving target. The immediate question about best unit is when?

 

[kdalton]

Wow... These are wartime patches.
View attachment 28264

Would be interesting to see the (inofficial) patch from your son...

That’s the one.

 

[Old Noob]

Bill Maudlin put it best when he said every GI believes HIS division is the best in the whole damn Army.

 

[Grumblejones]

GJ: Have you watched "The Liberator" on Netflix about the 45th?

Several times. It’s pretty good. The 45th ID Museum is in Oklahoma City.

 

[bendizoid]

I’m going with the ‘Old Bastards’ 77th Marine Division.

 

[Yuri0352]

I’m going with the ‘Old Bastards’ 77th Marine Division.

I've heard of the U.S. Army's 77th Division, however I'm not aware of there ever having been a '77th Division' being a part of the USMC.

 

[bendizoid]

I've heard of the U.S. Army's 77th Division, however I'm not aware of there ever having been a '77th Division' being a part of the USMC.

The marines bestowed the 77th as a ‘marine’ division, extremely rare and high praise.

The 77th was made up of old dudes, hence the unofficial moniker ‘Old Bastards’, average age +10 years above standard divisions, an experiment. Turned out to be an extremely sneaky/wise/adaptive/efficient/motivated and indeed treacherous division. Made up of 30-55 year olds they outperformed every operation.

In training, the Army cruelly had left them to freeze for months in some mountains than sent them to the scorching desert (some died) for more months of experiments, like see how long you can go marching in the hot sun on a liter of water before passing out. They kind of ‘self’ squared themselves away, weeding out people not with the program and using their plentiful extra years of combined experience to overcome obstacles.