The 1st on the Moon

An interactive display featuring the only 1st Infantry Division patch to orbit the moon.

First Division Patch
In 1969, a First Division patch orbited the moon in the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia, with Commander Michael Collins as Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon. The patch was originally worn by Lieutenant Colonel James Lawton Collins, Michael Collins’ father, in WWI.

The Apollo 11 astronauts could bring small personal objects with them on their lunar mission. Among other things, Michael Collins brought his father’s First Division patch, which was deeply sentimental to him. The patch has had an extraordinary journey traveling around Europe, America, and 953,701 miles to the moon and back. However, the patch’s most dangerous journey was likely through the US Postal Service. In February 2010 Collins sent the patch in a plain envelope to the First Division Museum with a handwritten note explaining its history.

James Lawton Collins
Collins served under General “Black Jack” Pershing in the Philippine-American War and Mexican Punitive Expedition. In WWI he commanded a battalion of the 7th Field Artillery as part of the American Expediently Forces from June to December 1918. In WWII Collins served in the U.S. and retired as a Major General in 1946.