The certificate is made out to a William O. Claywell of Company C, noting a service time of February 1943 to June 1945, and listing him has having participated in "a combat parachute jump into Holland" (Operation Market Garden, September 1944), "crossing the Waal, the Rhine and the Elbe Rivers", and "fighting on Anzio, the Ardennes, the Roer, and at the finish by the Elbe", with an additional hand-written note from Captain Wesley Harris of Company C, "Good Luck, Bill". Claywell has not been positively identified, but records do show a 1st Lieutenant by that name as born in 1922 and deceased in Ohio in 1997. The 307th, both with the 82nd and detached to other formations, was heavily engaged in the European Theater, fighting on Sicily and Italy proper, participating in both the Normandy Landing and Operation Market Garden, fighting at the Battle of the Bulge, before finally acting as part of the occupation force in the American Sector of Berlin. The first of its kind, the 307th served both as an engineering unit and as infantry as situation demanded, and distinguished themselves in both roles. The patch is finely hand embroidered, white and gold thread on a blue background, featuring "307" with the Army Airborne "AA" inside the "0" over a rendering of the traditional Engineer "castle" insignia descending under silk and backed by wings. Provenance: The Putnam Green/Sycamore Collection