USMC 1st Marine Division - Guadal shoulder patch.

Very good quality embroidery, suitable for sewing or pressing.

The United States 1st Marine Division (1st MARDIV) - is the oldest, largest and most decorated division in the United States Marine Corps. 

The division is descended from the 1st Advance Base Brigade (1913) and the 1st Marine Brigade (1935). On 1 February 1941, and thus before the United States entered the war, the 1st Marine Brigade was converted to a division. 

The 1st USMC Division had been engaged in combat in the Pacific since December 1941, but it was not until the battles for Guadalcanal Island that the first American victory in World War II was achieved. Guadalcanal Island is located in the Solomon Islands archipelago, where a strong Japanese garrison was settled. The fighting began with the landing of the 1st USMC Division in August 1942 and lasted until early February 1943.

Because of this first victory in World War II, the official insignia of the 1st USMC Division includes the name of the island of Guadalcanal. 

The insignia contains the U.S. national colors of red, white, and blue enclosed in a diamond-shaped pattern with a blue background with the red number "1" , on which "GUADALCANAL" is inscribed in white letters. The white stars on the blue background, symbolizing the night sky under which the battles were fought, are in the constellation system of the Southern Cross. 

In modern times, the 1st Division has participated in operations in Somalia, Kuwait, Haiti, Iraq, and Afghanistan.