15th Infantry Regiment Patch Can Do

The gold dragon on this patch stands for China, where the 15th Infantry served from 1900 to 1938, with its headquarters at Tientsin from 1912. "Can Do" is pidgin English from those years, and the regiment kept it as its motto. George C. Marshall served with the regiment there from 1924 to 1927, Matthew Ridgway also served in it, and Dwight D. Eisenhower led the 1st Battalion in 1940. The 15th left China in 1938, after the USS Panay incident, and the dragon came home on its colors.

In World War II the regiment fought with the 3rd Infantry Division from North Africa to Germany: Algeria-French Morocco, Tunisia, the assault landings in Sicily, at Anzio and in Southern France, then Naples-Foggia, Rome-Arno, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace and Central Europe. Second Lieutenant Audie Murphy served in B Company and earned the Medal of Honor, one of sixteen the regiment counted by the end of the war in Europe. In August 1950 the 15th sailed for Korea, covered the X Corps withdrawal from the Chosin Reservoir, and held the Kumsong sector until the 1953 armistice. Belgian troops beside them picked up the motto as "Belgians Can Do Too!" The 1st and 3rd Battalions crossed into Iraq with the 3rd Infantry Division in 2003, earning a Presidential Unit Citation, and SFC Alwyn Cashe of A Company received the Medal of Honor for Iraq.

The patch is a shield 2.62 inches wide by 3.25 inches tall, cut close along a gold border with a scalloped top. The lower field is royal blue with the gold dragon reaching up with both claws. Across the white upper band sit four red acorns, the badge of the Civil War XIV Corps, one each for Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Chattanooga and Atlanta. Between them is a gold rock for General George H. Thomas, the Rock of Chickamauga. Blue and white are the old and new colors of the infantry, and CAN DO runs in blue across the gold scroll at the bottom.

Few regiments can draw a straight line from the Civil War through the China garrison, Anzio and the Chosin to Baghdad, and the 15th carries all of it on one small shield. Today its 3rd Battalion serves with the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, at Fort Stewart, Georgia. Soldiers who served in the regiment, in any decade, answer the same two words. Can Do is a promise as much as a motto.

Mount it in a shadow box with a 3rd Infantry Division patch and a photo from your time in the battalion, or sew it on the vest you wear to Can Do reunions. It also makes a good gift for a grandson who just reported to Fort Stewart, or a father who served with the 15th in Korea. The iron-on backing goes on in a few minutes, and it can be sewn on for good.