Since its inception, the 101st Airborne Division — made even more famous by Stephen Ambrose’s “Band of Brothers” — has fought in every major war, from jumping behind the lines on D-Day to fighting in decades of battle in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Its unit patch, the screaming eagle overlaid on a black shield, is perhaps the most recognizable insignia in the U.S. Army. Its history, however, is less so.
While the bald eagle is a national emblem, the 101st’s screaming eagle insignia pays homage to a genuine war bird from the Civil War…