RARE WW1 5th Infantry Red Diamond Div Isorel Masonite SSI Enameled Insignia Sign for Sale

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RARE WW1 5th Infantry Red Diamond Div Isorel Masonite SSI Enameled Insignia Sign For Sale

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RARE WW1 5th Infantry Red Diamond Div Isorel Masonite SSI Enameled Insignia Sign:
$495.00

This sign shows the early shoulder sleeve insignia (SSI) adopted by the 5th Infantry \"Red Diamond\" or \"Red Devils\" division of the United States Army.YOU WILL BE RECEIVING THIS SIGN ONLY, THE SET PICTURE IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES.From a nearly? complete set of signs that are shown in the third picture. This set consists of each of the shoulder sleeve insignia used by units from the 1st world war, and are a very hard, glossy paint that I am assuming is an enamel on a confirmed Isorel board painted black, and measures 12 x 12 inches (30.48 cm). They are separated by that thin black paper packaging so common in that era. I am certain that it is Isorel by the cross like pattern of the pressing on the back which matches the Isorel pattern exactly. Isorel was the precursor to Masonite, which was not patented until 1924 and did not begin mass production until 1929. This set was likely produced some time after the war as most units did not have an insignia until then.
About the set:
This is obviously a very rare set and I am confident that it was issued by a significant organization, maybe even the US Military given the quality of the signs. I have had speculation on what they could have been for and it has been suggested that they might have been for a veterans group, but I think that they might have been used more for design purposes, possibly by a company that was in the business of supplying the newly adopted insignia patches to the various units in the US Military. Each of the 85 signs in the set have a hole on the top and bottom of the sign which I believe would be used for mounting, and they appear to have been extensively used. I will be offering each sign for sale individually so please be sure to stay tuned to my other listings as these become available.
About the 5th:
The 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized)—nicknamed the \"Red Diamond\", the \"Red Devils\", or \"die Roten Teufel\"—was an infantry division of the United States Army that served in World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War, and with NATO and the U.S. Army III Corps. It was disbanded and deactivated on 24 November 1992.The 5th Division was activated on 11 December 1917, just over eight months after the American entry into World War I, at Camp Logan, near Houston, Texas and began training for deployment to the Western Front. The entire division had arrived in France by 1 May 1918 and components of the units were deployed into the front line. They were the eighth of forty-two American divisions to arrive at the Western Front.The 5th Division trained with French Army units from 1 to 14 June 1918. The first soldiers of the unit to be killed in action died on 14 June of that year. Among the division\'s first casualties was Captain Mark W. Clark, then commanding the 3rd Battalion, 11th Infantry Regiment, who would later become a four-star general. On 12 September, the unit was part of a major attack that reduced the salient at St. Mihiel. The division later fought in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, the largest battle fought by the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) (and the largest in the history of the U.S. Army) in World War I. The war ended soon after, on November 11, 1918. The division served in the Army of Occupation, being based in Belgium and Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg until it departed Europe. They returned to the United States through the New York Port of Embarkation at Hoboken, New Jersey, on 21 July 1919. shlf