Panel: 29th Patch Stays, Confederate Streamers Go 

The patch of the Army National Guard’s storied 29th Infantry Division can stay, but many units would have to remove some campaign streamers under recommendations from the commission examining Confederate ties to U.S. military installations and symbols.

Established during World War I, the shoulder patch division troops still wear today is a blue-and-gray design similar to a yin-yang symbol.

The patch reflects the division’s original composition of soldiers from Maryland, a Union state, and Virginia, a Confederate state.

The eight-member Renaming Commission looked at the patch but was swayed by a groundswell of division veterans and supporters.

“The community of the 29th ID indicates that they view the symbol as a unifying symbol for America,” wrote retired Adm. Michelle J. Howard, the commission chair, in a July letter to members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees.

But the commission will recommend modifying the heraldry description to remove language implying Confederate service and reconciliation of the North and South.

It will also recommend removing Confederate campaign streamers from the colors of current units that fought for the South in the Civil War. 

The list includes Army Guard units from 11 southern states, with Georgia and Virginia having the most.

Units that currently have Confederate campaign streamers are listed online within the commission’s Defense Department asset inventory. It can be viewed at www.thenamingcommission.gov/inventory.