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The undisputed traditional story of how "Spearhead"
became 3rd Armored's nickname describes how in early September,
1944, in the aftermath of the Battle of Mons, Belgium, Gen. Rose
ordered a group of his top officers to meet and come up with
an appropriate label for the Division. In that meeting, someone
suggested "Spearhead," which was immediately accepted
by Rose and his troops with enthusiasm. The rest is history --
how that nickname became a badge of honor, forever synonymous
with the Division, that would span to the end of the war and
eventually on into the Cold War and Gulf War.
But in the beginning, there was never a hint that just maybe
"Spearhead" had been around long before September,
1944, and that it had been used elsewhere in the Division. Such
appears to be the case, as uncovered recently by 3AD.com web
staffer Jim MacClay, who reports that the Division's 36th Armored
Infantry Regiment had adopted "Spearhead" or "Spear
Head" as its own with the creation of a regimental newspaper
published at Camp Polk during early 1942 and up to July of that
year, when the Division headed off to the Mojave Desert in California
for Africa-like training. (See materials above, which include
a transparency-artwork for the printer.) MacClay advises that
research is continuing (as of late 2007) with a focus on how
long the 36th AIR continued use of the name (if at all), when
it first began use, and if it was considered a true regimental
nickname.
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