The Twenty-Fourth Corps was activated on April
8th, 1944, at Fort Shafter, Hawaii, and embarked from
Pearl Harbor on September 15th for staging at Eniwetok
and Manus Islands in the Admiralty Island group before
making assault landings on Leyte in conjunction with the
King II Operation.

The shoulder patch worn by the XXIV Corps was approved by
the QMG on August 16th, 1944, and blue and white are the
Corps' colors. Although the letter of authorization states
that the insignia was an arbitrary design, it was submitted
by the Corps Headquarters after learning that the XXIV Corps
of the Civil War had used the heart design. The Quartermaster
General went along with the Corps Commander on the choice of
design with the stipulation that no Civil War lineage or honors
were to be claimed or inferred by the approval