Maksim's On-Line Museum
  • Home
  • Crawlerway Rock
  • Berlin Wall
  • Soyuz Heat Shield
  • Shuttle Challenger AFRSI
  • Panama Canal Matches
  • Okpoho Manilla
  • Megalodon Shark Tooth
  • Antietam Bullets
  • Revolutionary War Cannonball
  • Trinitite
  • El Cazador Shipwreck Coin
  • Sikhote-Alin Meteorite
  • Titanic Coal
  • Catherine Coleman
  • Edgar Mitchell
  • Joe Kittinger
  • Don Walsh
  • Gail Halvorsen
  • Chester Nez
  • Chuck Yeager
  • George Sakato
  • Woody Williams
  • Charles McGee
  • Glenn Miller
  • Richard Cole
  • Harry Ettlinger
  • Fred Sutherland
  • Bernice Haydu
  • Condoleezza Rice
  • Robert Ballard
  • Steve Wozniak
  • Bre Pettis
  • Cal Ripken, Jr.
  • Jack Dempsey
  • William McRaven
  • Allied Military Currency
  • Disney WWII Insignia
  • Stalag POW ID Tag
  • Red Ball Express Patch
  • U-boat Badge
  • D-Day Barbed Wire
  • OPA Ration Tokens
  • Coal Mine Scrip
  • U.S. Capitol Flag
  • Petrified Wood
  • Knightia Fish Fossil
  • Mosasaurus Tooth
  • Hoover Dam Cable
  • Edison Disc Record
  • Commemorative Coins
  • Gold Rush Nuggets
  • CCC Scrip Tickets
  • Smokey Bear Pinbacks
  • Pearl Harbor Tool Tag
  • USO Record Home
  • Chernobyl Liquidator Badge
  • Mount St. Helens Ash
  • Shiva Lingam Stone
  • Archaic Arrowhead
  • Alcatraz Concrete
  • Cable Car Cable
  • Woodstock Ticket
  • White House Easter Egg
  • Red Cross Thimble
  • Kilroy Was Here
  • Prohibition Prescription
  • KKK Membership Card
  • Ringling Bros. Staff Pin
  • WTC Ticket
  • WWII Polish Home Army Badge
  • Ships for Victory Pin
  • Eisenhower Rally Ticket
  • Olympic Clay Pigeon
  • Anti-Apartheid Pin
  • Montgomery Bus Token
  • Great Wall Of China
  • Crimean War Button
  • Viking Fibula Brooch
  • Kamikaze Recognition Slide
  • WWII Monopoly Pieces
  • Korean War Safe Conduct Pass
  • Vietnam War Mess Token
  • Greenbrier Bunker Key
  • Organ Cave
  • Pitch Pine Torch
  • Woolly Mammoth Hair
  • Iranian Hostage Crisis
  • Watergate Scandal
  • Maersk Alabama Hijacking
  • Model T Radiator Cap
  • World Stamps
  • Russia
  • Links
  • Feedback Page

Red Ball Express Patch

Picture

The Red Ball Express was a truck convoy system that was used during World War II to transport supplies quickly though Europe after the D-Day landings in Normandy, France to the front-line troops.  Trucks marked with red balls followed a marked route that was closed to normal traffic.  The phrase “Red Ball Express” was adopted from an earlier usage of the phrase by the Santa Fe Railway, which used it for their express shipping service of priority freight and perishable items.
​

To support the divisions fighting near the front, two routes were designated between Cherbourg and a forward logistics base located at Chartres.  One route was used for delivering supplies, and the second route used by empty returning trucks.  Convoys of up to five trucks were sent at a time, escorted by jeeps both in front and behind.  At the peak of the operation, the Red Ball Express operated 5,958 vehicles, and transported up to 12,500 tons of supplies each day. 

The Red Ball Express was staffed primarily with African-American soldiers as drivers.  While there was concern of aerial attack of the convoys by the German Luftwaffe, the major problem the Express faced was maintenance of vehicles, finding enough drivers, and allowing downtime for the overworked drivers to get some sleep.

The item in my collection is an original shoulder patch which was worn by the soldier drivers during the delivering of supplies to the front.
Picture