This is an original WW2 jump wing oval for a member of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division. There is evidence of a jump wing having been pinned to this oval and was most likely removed from a uniform.
The 501st landed on D-Day five hours prior to the seaborne landing. The 501st drop zones were north and east of Carentan. Two battalions were to seize key canal locks at La Barquette and destroy bridges over the Douve River, while the third battalion was in division reserve. The efforts of the 501st came at high cost: the regiment lost 898 men killed, wounded, missing, or captured. The regiment would go on to fight in Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge around Bastogne.
