I just watched Saving Private Ryan today with my boys.

On previous viewings, I have never paid attention to the combat patch on the uniform of the one-armed colonel who takes the KIA notification letters to General Marshall- that of the 2nd Infantry Division.

In WWII, 2ID was not involved in combat until they landed in France on June 7, 1944. (And I know that thanks to the TexAgs thread several months back about a set of Aggie senior boots which had been found, the owner of which had died of wounds suffered in France, while serving in 2ID.) Not nearly enough time for the Colonel to lose an arm, get patched up and rehabbed, and then get into a desk job at the Pentagon.

Which means the Colonel was a World War I vet.

Small thing, but I'd never noticed it before.

Perhaps the colonel was earlier serving with a different WW2 division when he lost his arm? The army was ruthlessly culled after World War I, so it would be remarkable if it retained an amputee.

Probably WWI vet who go recalled or volunteered for an admin job freeing up an able bodied person for combat?

I also just noticed this yesterday watching with my son and thought the same thing, no way it was a current 2ID member in that timeline.

Also that's Walter White himself ad the 1 armed colonel.

I just suggest that there is a simpler explanation than reaching all the way back to WWI. Perhaps the patch is simply an error by the movie. Regardless, it's an interesting observation by the OP.

Since it's a rare and glorious Sunday where I don't have anything to do, I've been digging it on this. First, the fictional characters name is I.W. Brice (probably named after one of the producers named Ian Brice), Second, it's an error in regards to wearing the 2ID patch, as it's implied he lost his arm in WWI and the wearing of "combat patches" wasn't authorized for WWI service. I know the Purple Heart was able to be awarded for WWI wounds since I believe it was a wound stripe in 1917-1918. However I think this would make his CIB also a breach of protocol as that didn't exist until WWI. Now, the other kicker is his awards show the Asiatic Campaign ribbon, so maybe he fought in an earlier campaign before being wounded and sent to a desk job?

I had fun deep diving this and learned some neat stuff about WWII awards.

I'm sure it was intended that the character represented an officer who had been wounded during WWII, in the Pacific if he was wearing an Asia-Pacific ribbon, and elected to continue to serve, in a stateside desk job. The obvious wound gives the character the BTDT gravitas.

The choice of the 2ID patch might well be as simple as "it's big and shows up well on screen" and the costume department didn't bother to do any research on where 2ID was during the war and when. Or maybe they knew that 2ID is in Korea now and figured that they're there because they were in the Pacific during the war.

In any case, shoddy research by someone.

I'm pretty sure the SS insignia were used to make sure the audience understood that these Germans were extra bad, especially the one that had been let go earlier.

There were Waffen SS units involved in the Battle of Normandy, but not in the American AO at that time. The 12th SS Panzer "Hitlerjugend" was involved in the fighting around Caen early on, with infamous incidents of murdering Canadian troops they had captured. The 2nd SS Panzer "Das Reich" didn't reach Normandy until June 15th, and then it was piecemeal. I think the movie ends on or about June 13th.

Pvt Upham's journey...the hardening, abrasive effects of war in microcosm. Upham's not a combat soldier, he's an interpreter. And when the fighting starts, he's scared out of his mind, and he freezes at that critical moment. But then at the end, he's pushed over the edge and shoots the guy he talked the patrol into letting go earlier. (It is noteworthy that he only kills that one German.)

And in the opening scene, that's just the mess that was Omaha Beach. As Sgt Horvath tells Cpt Miller, "We're right where we're supposed to be, but nobody else is." Lots of units at Omaha (and other beaches as well, but it wasn't as messy) landed somewhere other than their assigned sectors.

The initial assault on Pointe du Hoc was made by C, D, and E companies of 2nd Rangers. A and B companies were supposed to follow them, but the signal was sent too late, and those companies, along with 5th Rangers, diverted to the main landing area on Omaha. Since Cpt Miller identified himself as being part of 2nd Rangers (and his men have the 2 in a diamond insignia on their helmets), he would have been part of A or B company.

But it was those Rangers that Gen. Norman Cota gave the command "Rangers - lead the way!" which helped catalyze the movement off the beach and is credited by some with averting disaster on Omaha. (Yes, "Rangers, lead the way!" was a command, not the descriptive declaration the way the modern Rangers use it.)