Persian Gulf Command
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The Persian Gulf Command was a
History
The command originated in September 1941, when the US Military Iranian Mission, led by Colonel
Iran was already occupied by British and Russian troops who were guarding the
Conditions in Persia were foreign and inhospitable to the U.S. forces, with hotter temperatures than they had trained for. Those who arrived in the summer of 1942 met with pouring rain and mud more than a foot deep, but had to pitch tents to sleep on the ground for the next six months until huts were built. The rainy season was followed by temperatures that rose as high as 100 degrees,[citation needed] accompanied by sand storms that lasted for up to a week, constantly changing the landscape.
Between 1942 and 1945, the United States equipped Russia with 192,000 trucks and thousands of aircraft, combat vehicles, tanks, weapons, ammunition and petroleum products. Before the construction of the aircraft assembly plant at
The Command, in conjunction with the British
PGC Insignia
The PGC shoulder sleeve insignia featured a green shield, 31⁄4 inches high, with a 7 pointed white star above a red scimitar fimbriated in white bendwise, point up.
The red scimitar, from the flag of Iran (or Persia) represented the warlike spirit of the ancient Persians. The white seven pointed star is taken from the flag of the Kingdom of Iraq, and represents purity and the religion of the Middle East. The green color of the shield denotes the agriculture of Persia in antiquity, and also stands for Islam, the religion of both Iran and Iraq. The colors red, green and white are found in the flags of both countries.
The date of the insignia's original approval is not recorded in the
Commanders
- Col. Donald Shingler, August 1942 - October 1942.[4]
- Brig. Gen. Donald H. Connolly, 1942–1944.[5]
- Donald Prentice Booth, January 1945 until inactivation.[6]
Further reading
- Jackson, Ashley (2018). Persian Gulf Command: A History of the Second World War in Iran and Iraq. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-22196-1.
References
- ^ Army Corps of Engineers in the Persian Gulf Archived 28 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine
- David Glantzwriting in Keith E. Bonn (ed.), Slaughterhouse: Handbook of the Eastern Front, Aberjona Press, Bedford, PA, 2005, p.66
- ^ Persian Gulf Service Command Shoulder Sleeve Insignia, The Institute of Heraldry (TIOH), 29 August 1944. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
- ^ Lieutenant Colonel Danny M. Johnson, AUS-Ret., The Persian Gulf Command and the Lend-Lease Mission to the Soviet Union during World War II, 28 June 2016. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
- ^ World War Two Almanac, by Keith D. Dickson, 2008, page 345
- ^ Newspaper article, Gen. Connolly Replaced; Gen. Booth Takes Charge of Persian Gulf Command, The New York Times, 8 January 1945
External links
- Persian Gulf Command Veterans Organization
- PGC Veteran's Organization
- T. H. Vail Motter. The Persian Corridor and Aid to Russia Archived 5 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine. United States Army Center of Military History, 2000 (original print 1952). CMH Pub 8-1
- A Short Guide to Iraq (World War II War Department publication for soldiers)