What uniforms are the teams wearing for 125th Army-Navy game?
The inaugural 12-team college football playoff field is set. Starting next weekend eight teams will begin their post-season journeys, with four teams joining them the following week, all hoping to travel a road leading to roads they all hope will lead to Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, and the National Championship Game.
However, this weekend two teams have the stage to themselves, in the 125th installment of the annual rivalry game between Army and Navy. This year takes these storied institutions to the Maryland suburbs of our nation’s capital and FedEx Field … errr, Northwest Stadium.
As with editions past, both teams will wear special uniforms on Saturday, honoring storied members of their respective branches. Let’s help get you ready for Army-Navy by breaking them down.
Army-Navy uniforms: Army honors the 101st Airborne
Army was first to unveil their special theme uniforms for the 125th installment of Army-Navy, and this year the Black Knights will honor the 101st Airborne Division:
In particular, the uniforms pay tribute to the 101st’s efforts during World War II, events that were first immortalized in the book Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose, and later the HBO miniseries by the same title. The 101st Airborne Division, also known as the “Screaming Eagles,” parachuted into Normandy on D-Day, part of the massive assault on the beaches in France.
Their efforts did not end in June of 1944, as the unit played a critical role in the defense of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. In the winter of 1944 the Germans launched an offensive operation aimed at the harbor in Antwerp, Belgium, hoping to cut off Allied resupply routes into Europe.
The Belgian city of Bastogne, with its access to roadways and railways, was a critical point of control in the Battle of the Bulge. In the thick of winter, the 101st Airborne Division was tasked with holding onto Bastogne, surrounded and outnumbered by German forces and without access to reinforcements or supplies. But for nearly a week, the 101st held on to Bastogne, a critical moment late in World War II.
The uniforms Army will wear Saturday feature a helmet that reads “Screaming Eagles,” a nod to the 101st’s now-iconic shoulder patch. The uniforms include an invasion star on the right shoulder, and actual 101st Airborne Screaming Eagle patch, and other elements that pay tribute to the 101st Airborne, including random markings like those used by the paratroopers to identify their units during the D-Day operations offensive.
Army-Navy uniforms: Navy pays tribute to the Jolly Rogers
Similar to Army, Navy is honoring one of his most historic squadrons, with roots back to the Second World War. Navy’s uniforms for the 125th installment of Army-Navy pay tribute to Fighter Squadron 17 (VF-17), which was established during World War II. That squadron cut its teeth flying the F4U-1 Corsair fighter and its first commanding officer, Lt. Cmdr. John T. “Tommy” Blackburn, wanted a pirate theme to match the fighter.
Enter the “Jolly Rogers:”
By the end of World War II the Jolly Rogers had established themselves as the most effective squadron in naval aviation history, and the “skull and crossbones” had become “the most feared and recognized insignia in the world.”
Over the years since World War II the Jolly Rogers have been decommissioned and recommissioned several times, with the squadron now operating as VFA-103.
Navy’s uniforms this Saturday incorporate many elements from the Jolly Rogers, including the color scheme of the Jolly Rogers’ aircraft, the squadron’s tail design on the neck of the jersey, and the squadron’s slogan “Fear the Bones” incorporated into the interior collar as a discoverable detail. Navy’s helmets this weekend feature the VF-84 helmet design, and “chevrons are incorporated with the skull on the sides of the helmet as well as chevrons representing the nine different aircraft that the Jolly Rogers have flown in the striping of the helmet.”
This is not the first time that the Jolly Rogers have been honored for Army-Navy. Back in 1962 Roger Staubach and company wore helmets paying tribute to the squadron for the game.
Eagle-eyed viewers might know this from new UNC head coach Bill Belichick’s appearance on College GameDay last year ahead of Army-Navy, when Belichick brought out one of those helmets:
