Why Is a Navy Submarine Combat Badge on an Army Colonel’s Uniform?*

At first glance, Colonel William L. Waugh Sr.’s uniform appears to be that of a senior United States Army officer. Then one small badge above the ribbons reveals an entirely different chapter of his life.

It is a U.S. Navy Submarine Combat Patrol Insignia, earned during Waugh’s World War II service aboard USS Bowfin. Long before he became an Army colonel, Waugh was an enlisted torpedoman serving beneath the Pacific. He reported aboard Bowfin in October 1943 and served during eight of the submarine’s nine wartime patrols.

As a torpedoman, Waugh worked with some of the submarine’s most dangerous and technically demanding equipment. He maintained torpedoes, firing mechanisms, tubes, and associated systems while serving aboard one of the most successful American submarines of the Pacific War.

After World War II, Waugh left the Navy, attended college, and earned a commission in the United States Army. He built an entirely new military career in the Ordnance Corps and eventually rose to the rank of colonel.

By 1971, Waugh was serving in Cambodia as Deputy Chief, Forward, of the Military Equipment Delivery Team. His responsibilities included coordinating weapons, ammunition, training facilities, transportation, and supply programs as Cambodian forces rapidly expanded during the war in Southeast Asia.

Waugh ultimately devoted approximately 33 years to military service, beginning as an enlisted sailor and ending as a decorated Army colonel.

Today, his uniform brings those two careers together. The rank and insignia belong to an Army colonel, but above his ribbons remains the submarine combat badge earned by a young Navy torpedoman aboard USS Bowfin.

One uniform. Two services. More than three decades of military service.

And one small badge that tells you there is far more to the story.

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