This is a patch from the 84th Infantry Division, uniform removed. It belonged to a man named Earl Mcmurray, a tank commander during WWII. My friend has his diary, and a photo album from a soldier who had served with his grandfather, and sent everyone photo copies after the war.
After landing on Omaha Beach (after D-Day), his tank was going through a small french town when it ran over a landmine. The tank was disabled, and shrapnel went all up in his legs, stomach and barely missed his privates. He recovered, and was soon in the tank again. He would write in his diary: "When we were running low on ammunition, our commander would tell us not to waste ammo on the farmhouses, but drive through them instead. There would sometimes be a squashed family inside, and that was unfortunate, but sometimes we got a hun ambush." He crossed the Rhine with Patton, and when he was close to Berlin, he was hit by a sniper when he was looking out of his tank hatch. He survived the wound, and the war.
Apparently, his favorite pastime was to take medals and badges off of dead Germans he saw, and on a couple of occasions, even live ones. My friend has a cigar box full of German badges and medals in perfect condition.