Saturday, February 28, 2015

Brig. Gen. Oscar E. Davis' Green Beret

I found this beret on an Ebay listing, the original green beret that once belonged to United States Army Brigadier General Oscar Esko Davis. 
Brig. Gen. Oscar E. Davis served 31 years with the US Army. He served in World War II, the Korean and the Vietnam War.
A native of Tucson, General Davis was commissioned through the ROTC at the University of Arizona in 1941. He is a combat veteran of World War II with the 541st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 11th Airborne Division, Korea as a battalion commander in the 45th Infantry Division, and Vietnam as the deputy of 1st Brigade, a separate Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division, and as assistant division commander, 1st Calvary Division. After 31 years of distinguished service, General Davis retired from XVIII Airborne Corps as the chief of staff.
The interesting thing about this beret, one of the earliest US Green Berets, is of coarse that it is a Basque beret! There were no standardized military berets in the US Army at the time and the general wore a French made Basque. 
A nice piece of history and wouldn't it be great if all those US servicemen who moan and whine about berets on internet forums knew about this..?  love it!

2 comments:

  1. That's my great-grandfather. His daughter's name was Candace and her son's name Brian. Then came me. He was a good man and a great Soldier and I was wondering if you still have that beret

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    1. Thank you for your comment - very nice to read. Unfortunately no, I saw the beret on auction on Ebay, but didn't buy it. It would be a nice beret for any collection, with some good history attached to it...

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