Formed in October 1917 from National Guard units from three states—North and South Carolina and Tennessee—the 30th Infantry Division was activated at Camp Sevier in North Carolina and underwent a brief period of training before it was shipped overseas to begin working and training with British forces. The unit’s Shoulder Sleeve Insignia, or unit patch, was inspired by the Division’s nickname as the “Old Hickory Division,” which in turn was taken from the nickname of President Andrew Jackson, who was born near the border of North and South Carolina and who had commanded troops from those states during the War of 1812.
The blue piping forms an “O” and an “H” to represent the two letters of Jackson’s nickname, while the three Roman numeral “Xs” in the center stand for the unit’s numerical designation. When the patch was first issued in 1918, Soldiers mistakenly wore it with the “O” on its side (and thus ruining the shape of the “H”), a mistake that was corrected when the Division returned to Europe in 1944 to fight in World War II.