US Army 4th Infantry Division shoulder sleeve patch with 4 green ivy leaves on a brown field

Shoulder sleeve insignia of the United States Army 4th Infantry Division, nicknamed the Ivy Division. The badge displays on point and has four ivy leaves representing the division’s numerical designation, a play on the Roman numeral IV (4). The 4th was the first US unit to land on Utah Beach on D Day, June 6, 1944, and later joined in the liberation of Paris on August 25th. By November 6th, the Division had reached the Hürtigen Forest, where they fought until early December. In late March 1945, the division crossed the Rhine River and campaigned through Germany. In late April, the troops discovered the site of Haunstetten, a subcamp of Dachau concentration camp and one of the largest subcamps in Germany. It had been destroyed on April 13, 1945 by Allied air attacks. The division proceeded to Miesbach and when Germany surrendered on May 7 was assigned occupational duty until their return to the US on July 10th. The unit then prepared for redeployment to Japan, which was halted before VJ Day, August 14, 1945. The division was inactivated on Mach 5, 1945.