Eisenhower National Historic Site

Armband
1942

1st Infantry Division Rectangular brassard (armband) made of waterproofed cloth with an American flag stenciled on center. The vertical holes on either side are for adjusting band around the arm with a safety pin attached. Worn by Capt. Paul A. Reihmann of the 18th Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, during invasion of N. Africa.

When the Americans landed in North Africa in 1942, they encountered the Vichy French, those who had collaborated with the Nazis after the 1940 fall of France. Algeria and French Morocco were areas controlled by the Vichy government. It was hoped that when the French military saw the American flag armbands they would regard Eisenhower’s soldiers not as enemies but as liberators. Most of the French forces in Africa came back over to the Allied side.

Cloth. L 44.6, W 10.0 cm
Eisenhower National Historic Site, EISE 11892.



Armband 1942 1st Infantry Division Rectangular brassard (armband) made of waterproofed cloth with an American flag stenciled on center. The vertical holes on either side are for adjusting band around the arm with a safety pin attached. Worn by Capt. Paul A. Reihmann of the 18th Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, during invasion of N. Africa. When the Americans landed in North Africa in 1942, they encountered the Vichy French, those who had collaborated with the Nazis after the 1940 fall of France. Algeria and French Morocco were areas controlled by the Vichy government. It was hoped that when the French military saw the American flag armbands they would regard Eisenhower’s soldiers not as enemies but as liberators. Most of the French forces in Africa came back over to the Allied side. Cloth. L 44.6, W 10.0 cm Eisenhower National Historic Site, EISE 11892.
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