Airborne Infantry Officer with SCR-536 Radio Set

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This 1942 U.S. Army photo shows an Airborne Infantry officer using a then-new SCR-536 "walkie-talkie," a field radio-telephone, during Third Army maneuvers in Louisiana, commanded by Lieutenant General Walter Kreuger early in World War II.

As explained on this Olive-Drab.com page about the SCR-536, the core component of the radio set is the BC-611 Radio Receiver and Transmitter, sometimes confused with the entire SCR-536 system.

The paratrooper's sleeve bears the insigina of the U.S. Army Second Infantry Division, a five-pointed white star superimposed upon a black shield with an Indian's head with war bonnet in profile. In color, the Indian's face is red, the bonnet blue, with the outline of feathers in blue.

The photo has not been cropped and still bears the U.S. Army Signal Corps seal and partially visible notes on the edges.

Today in WW II: 8 Feb 1940 Germans establish the first large Jewish ghetto in Poland in the city of Lodz. More ↓

8 Feb 1941 US House of Representatives passes the Lend-Lease Act [265 to 165].
8 Feb 1942 Battle of Sarimbun Beach begins, the first stage of the Japanese assault on Singapore.
8 Feb 1942 Japanese Offensive in Burma begins [8 Feb-2 May].
8 Feb 1945 Battle of the Reichswald: British and Canadian forces under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery begin Operation Veritable [8 Feb-11 Mar].
Visit the Olive-Drab.com World War II Timeline for day-by-day events 1939-1945! See also WW2 Books.