307th Airborne Engineer Battalion Patch

On September 20, 1944, during Operation Market Garden, engineers of the 307th Airborne Engineer Battalion paddled assault boats across the Waal River under German fire, then turned around and went back for more men, five crossings in all. The 307th is the engineer battalion of the 82nd Airborne Division, and the Waal crossing is the day its paratroopers still race boats to remember. The motto on this patch is older than the jump wings. It comes from the Meuse-Argonne in 1918, when the battalion held the division's right flank. I Maintain the Right has been the 307th's line ever since.

Airborne engineers carry a rifle and a demolition kit, and the 307th used both. In Holland the job at the Waal was to get paratroopers across a wide river with the far bank held by the enemy, and the engineers did it by hand with paddles. Since then the battalion has stayed with the 82nd, the division that keeps its paratroopers ready to jump anywhere on short notice. In 2015 its soldiers at Fort Bragg were still running the Waal River crossing race every fall, five laps on the water for the five trips their predecessors made. A memorial to the 307th Airborne Engineer Battalion stands at Fort Bragg.

The patch is a shield in the red and white of the Corps of Engineers, cut close around its outline. Three red fleurs-de-lis sit across the top on white, above red wedges that rise from a red band like spray off a bow. The lower half is a pattern of interlocking red and white bell shapes. A white scroll curls up both sides and runs under the shield, lettered I MAINTAIN THE RIGHT in red. Two colors and one motto, and every 82nd Airborne engineer knows exactly whose it is.

The 307th carries a combat record that runs from the Argonne to Holland and on through the long service of the 82nd Airborne. Engineers in an airborne division clear the drop zone, open the road, blow the obstacle and then fight as infantry when the line needs it. The battalion has never let the Waal crossing slip out of memory. A soldier who wore this crest joined a unit that measures itself against that river. That is the standard in the 307th.

Frame it in a shadow box with your jump wings, castle and 82nd Airborne All American patch, or sew it on the jacket you wear to the Fort Bragg reunion. It is also a good gift for a grandson who just finished jump school and wants to know about the boats on the Waal. The iron-on backing holds, and a few stitches make it permanent. Essayons.