Fort Myer, Virginia, is home to two main companies- The "Old Guard", which is primarily a ceremonial outfit (burials at Arlington Cemetery, etc) and Headquarters Company, for those who have duty in The Pentagon. We are not sure when Headquarters Company was formed, but apparently they never had a unit patch, using only the Military District of Washington (MDW) emblem on the uniform. Perhaps anticipating the arrival of General Westmoreland to MDW and Headquarters Company in 1968, the head officer of the Army Operations Center (War Room) in The Pentagon, Colonel John B. Watkins, asked SP5 Jim Robertson to sketch out a design for a HQ Co shoulder patch during the Spring of 1968. The design featured the US eagle centered in a pentagon shaped border, using red, brown, blue, gold, white and green colors. Robertson, who was on duty in the graphics area with SP5 Dave Hansen, submitted the sketch at the end of the one shift, and a few weeks later Colonel Watkins brought Robertson an embroidered sample which was then accepted as the official Headquarters Company patch from then on. The original patch is to the left, and a  'camo' version (right), not quite as attractive as the original, came later on. Fort Myer Historian, Kim Holien, mentioned seeing a whole file on this recently, but it is currently floating around the post headquarters building- if it is found, we will add more info. Meanwhile, there is a small posting on this on Wikipedia- click on to the following link:  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HHCUSASSI.gif .

If anyone out there has any info on the whereabouts of Colonel Watkins, or any other officers/NCOs who were in the AOC/War Room in the late 1960's, please advise.