6th Infantry Regiment Patch Unity Is Strength

The green alligator on the 6th Infantry's shield is there for Lake Okeechobee, where the regiment bore the brunt of the fighting on Christmas Day 1837. Nothing on this shield is decoration. Every piece of it stands for a place the 6th Infantry fought. The alligator is the Seminole War, the ladder is Mexico, and the cross in the red band is the Meuse in France. A soldier who learned the regiment's history in his first weeks can read the whole shield at a glance.

The ladder commemorates the Mexican War under General Winfield Scott, at Churubusco and in the assault on Chapultepec, where scaling ladders were used to storm the castle walls. It is green, the Mexican color. The silver cross on the red band is the arms of the ancient Lords of Dun and commemorates the regiment's crossing of the Meuse near Dun in the First World War. The white of the shield is the color of the infantry facings when the regiment was organized. The full coat of arms also carries a red lion's face for the Canadian campaigns of 1813 and 1814, which puts the regiment in the War of 1812 as well.

This is a 3 by 3.5 inch shield with a gold border and a cut edge that follows its outline, with a stepped top. Across the top, a red band is quartered by a white cross. Below it, on a white field, a green alligator with gold spots walks over a green and white scaling ladder rising from the base. A gold scroll at the bottom carries the motto UNITY IS STRENGTH in black letters. The backing is iron-on, and it can be sewn on as well.

Few regiments in the Army can put Florida, Mexico and France on one shield, and the 6th does it with three plain devices. The motto fits a unit that has always fought as part of something larger, from Scott's army in 1847 to the divisions of the twentieth century. In recent years its 1st Battalion has served with the 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss. Its soldiers go by Regulars, and many add the words 'by God.' The crest has stayed the same through all of it.

It looks right in a shadow box with a Combat Infantryman Badge and a battalion photo, or on the vest of a Regular headed to a reunion. It is also a fine gift for a son or grandson who wants to know what the alligator and the ladder mean. Press it on or stitch it down. Unity is strength, as it says.