U.S. ARMY 503RD PARACHUTE INFANTRY REGIMENT, HQ AND HQ COMPANY OVAL

According to the reference book U.S. Army Patches, Flashes and Ovals by insignia authority Barry Jason Stein, this Airborne background trimming, or oval, was approved for the HQ and HQ Company (HHC), 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment on 20 June 1994. Because the Regiment hasn’t held that designation in over not held that designation in over sixty years, we assume it is now designated for today’s HHC, 503rd Infantry Regiment, the designation used on the U.S. Army General Orders Award Index found at the U.S. Army Center of Military History Web site.

The 503rd Infantry Regiment HHC oval is worn by unit personnel who have earned a Parachutist or Air Assault badge. It is placed beneath the badge, which is centered upon it, and the combination is worn on Service Uniform coats, the Class B ASU shirt, the blue or green Army Maternity tunics (female Soldiers only).

The two items are considered a single device toward the maximum number of badges and devices allowed for each authorized type of uniform, with the outer edge of the oval (and the top of the star and wreathed star in the case of Senior and Master Parachutist Badges) used when measuring distances for positioning purposes.

General information and basic wear guidance for the oval is found in subsection (b) of Chapter 21-32, “Distinctive items authorized for other than infantry personnel,” in the January 2021 edition of DA PAM 670-1. Detailed instruction regarding the wear and positioning of the badges, both with and without Airborne background trimming, is found in subsection (b) of Chapter 22-16, “Distinctive items authorized for other than infantry personnel,” of the same manual.

The 503rd Infantry Regiment was originally constituted as the 503rd Parachute Infantry in the Army of the United States on 24 February 1942. Its 1st and 2nd Battalions were formed through consolidation with the existing and activated 503rd and 504th Parachute Battalions, with the Regiment—less the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions—activated 2 March 1942. 3rd Battalion was activated on 8 June 1942, and on 2 November 1942 its 2nd Battalion was reorganized and redesignated as 2nd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry and began a separate lineage; concurrently, a new 2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry was activated in Australia.

Deployed to the Pacific Theater, the Regiment’s Battalions fought in four campaigns. During the Luzon campaign, for which it was awarded an Arrowhead device for taking part in an assault landing, the Regiment executed perfectly a parachute assault on the Japanese forces occupying Corregidor, dubbed “The Rock” by American Soldiers. For successfully clearing the Japanese blockhouse of defenders and occupying the critical island, the 503rd was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation (known as a Distinguished Unit Citation at the time) and given a nickname that is now its officially authorized Special Designation: “The Rock Regiment.”

You can learn more about the history of the 503rd Infantry Regiment by visiting our store pages for the 503rd Infantry Regiment Unit Crest, as well as our pages devoted to the insignia of the Regiment’s 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions.
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