3rd Battalion 21st Infantry Headquarters Company WWII WW2

Description

28" x 19", this guidon is a made of cotton bunting with applique lettering & numbers. Since its creation in 1861, the 21st Infantry Regiment – the “Gimlet” regiment – has earned 56 wartime campaign streamers – a record matched by few Army units. The regiment served in the Pacific throughout World War II, fighting at New Guinea and on Leyte island, where it suffered heavy casualties during the liberation of the Philippines in 1944. On Nov. 5, 1944, the 21st Infantry arrived at “Breakneck Ridge” on the north coast of Leyte. Facing fierce Japanese resistance, on Nov. 8 the Gimlets assaulted the ridge in the face of the driving rain and wind of a South Pacific typhoon. The storm, as well as brutal fighting, slowed the regiment’s progress. But on Nov. 12, after bitter fighting and heavy casualties, the men of the 21st Infantry secured “Breakneck Ridge” and ended significant enemy resistance on Leyte. The regiment also saw heavy fighting, often at close quarters, during the liberation of Mindanao, the second largest of the Philippine islands, from April 17 to June 19, 1945. The campaign – 63 days of continuous fighting – was the regiment’s longest and last campaign of the war.
The Guidon is in excellent condition, but there are three tiny holes. They may be moth holes, or just where the threads have broken down.
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