Commies Droppin' From The Sky: Stalin's "Red Dawn" McCarthy Era Paratrooper Insignia

[Rick Research]

These insignia were authorized 18 August 1947. Officers wore gilt metal wings and enlisted men wore silver. The border was in branch color-- here, black is for signals, engineers, and other technical personnel. Officers discontinued wear on 30 June 1955, while enlisted men had theirs withdrawn 4 August 1956.

Normally worn on the left upper arm, units parading in Moscow's Red Square moved the insignia to their upper RIGHT arms, for the benefit of the Party elite on the reviewing stand.

[skip]

Hi Rick,

Thats a very nice rare badge, very desirable.Is it Original? I,ve never even seen one for real and this one looks mint.

Skip

[Rick Research]

A couple of years ago Igor Moiseyev at Atlantic Crossroads had a very small stack of them, all this branch, that obviously came unissued out of one of the millions of forgotten Soviet crates and boxes still awaiting collecting Indiana Joneses.