Persian Gulf Command

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See main article Persian Corridor

In 1942, the United States sent thousands of troops to Iran and Iraq--The Persian Gulf Command--specifically to transport goods to Russia. Iran was already occupied by British and Russian troops who were guarding the oil fields and keeping an eye on the pro-German Iranians (Persians). Hitler believed that it was only a matter of time before he would eliminate the British, the Russians, and the newly-arrived Americans to take possession of the oil fields and the railroad that went through the mountains from the Persian Gulf to the Russian border. But von Paulus found that the Russians fought untiringly and endured much during the siege of Stalingrad until aid from America enabled them to rally, and Rommel was preoccupied in Africa.

View from a hilltop in Iran, 1942, taken by Charles L. Twitchell, WWII veteran stationed in the Persian Gulf

Conditions in Persia were new and foreign, and hotter than anything Americans had previously trained for. Those who arrived in the summer of 1942 were welcomed by pouring rain and mud more than a foot deep. This is where they had to pitch their tents to sleep on the ground for the next six months until huts were buit. The rainy season was followed by temperatures that rose as high as 170 degrees in the desert sun, accompanied by sand storms that persisted for as long as a week as they constantly changed the landscape.

View of the courtyard of a home in Iran, 1942, taken by Charles L. Twitchell, WWII veteran stationed in the Persian Gulf

Between 1942 and 1945, the United States helped to arm Russia with 192 thousand trucks and thousands of aircraft, combat vehicles, tanks, weapons, ammunition and petroleum products. Before the construction of the aircraft assembly plant at Abadan, Iran, the American Air Force flew A-20 medium bombers across the Atlantic to Abadan, where they were turned over to Russian flyers. Army engineers transformed the camel paths into a highway for trucks and improved the railroad with its more than 200 tunnels so trains could carry tanks and tons of other heavy equipment over the mountains. Historians have stated that without the Russian thrust on the Eastern Front, General Eisenhower would have had to delay the invasion of Normandy until 1945 or later, with a great many more casualties than were suffered in the D-Day 1944 invasion.

Map of American military posts and stations in the Persian Gulf during World War II

The Teheran Conference in the fall of 1943, was the meeting of United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin in the capital city of Iran where Allied troops all over the country were on the alert to protect the Big Three. When Hitler's agents made him aware of the location of the conference, he made plans to assassinate the three leaders of the Allies. German paratroopers, some in Russian uniforms, were dropped in several locations, including the outskirts of Teheran, Kasvin and Qom. The assassination of the Big Three and the destruction of some of the railroad tunnels near Qom were their goals, but they were apprehended almost as soon as they touched ground. The Persian Gulf Command, along with British and Russian troops also rounded the Nazi accomplices, and the Big Three completed their conference without incident.

PGC SHOULDER SLEEVE INSIGNIA: Description: On a green shield, 3 1/4 inches in height, a 7 pointed white star above a red scimitar fimbriated in white bendwise, point up.

Symbolism: The red scimitar, from the flag of Iran (or Persia) represented the warlike spirit of the ancient Persians. The white seven pointed star is taken from the flag of the Kingdom of Iraq. It represents purity and religion of the Middle East. The green color of the shield denotes the agriculture of Persia in olden days, and also stands for Islam, which is the religion of both Iran and Iraq. The colors red, green and white are found in the flags of both countries.

Background: The date the insignia was originially approved is not contained in the Institute of Heraldry files. Correspondence dated May 13, 1944 indicates the insignia drawing may be declassified. The unclassified drawing was approved on August 29, 1944.