Persian Gulf Command The Persian Gulf Command was a United States Army service command established in December 1943 to assure the supply of U . S . lend - lease war material to the Soviet Union . Its history originated in September 1941 , when the U . S . Military Iranian Mission led by Engineer officer COL Raymond A . Wheeler ( later CG ) was established to facilitate lend - lease supply to the U . S . S . R . At this same time , the Iranian District of the North Atlantic Division was set up to provide construction support . In August 1942 the mission was re - designated as the Persian Gulf Service Command , and in December 1943 became the Persian Gulf Command . It subsequently came under the command of a succession of engineer generals . Following the War Department ’ s full militarization of construction , the Iranian District ceased to exist in May 1943 . Three districts directly subordinate to the area command eventually replaced it . Eventually thousands of personnel worked in Iraq as well . Iran was already occupied by British and Russian troops who were guarding the oil fields and keeping an eye on the pro - German Iranians ( Persia ns ) . Hitler believed that German military forces could eventually take possession of the oil fields and the railroad that went through the mountains from the Persian Gulf to the Russian border . Conditions in Persia were new and foreign , and hotter than anything Americans had previously trained for . Those who arrived in the summer of 1942 were welcomed by pouring rain and mud more than a foot deep . This is where they had to pitch their tents to sleep on the ground for the next six months until huts were built . The rainy season was followed by temperatures that rose as high as 170 degrees in the desert sun , accompanied by sand storms that persisted for as long as a week as they constantly changed the landscape . Between 1942 and 1945 , the United States helped to equip Russia with 192 thousand trucks and thousands of aircraft , combat vehicles , tanks , weapons , ammunition and petroleum products . Before the construction of the aircraft assembly plant at Abadan , Iran , the United States Army Air Forces flew A - 20 medium bombers across the Atlantic to Abadan , where they were turned over to Russian flyers . Army engineers transformed the camel paths into a highway for trucks and improved the railroad with its more than 200 tunnels so trains could carry tanks and tons of other heavy equipment over the mountains . Historian David Glantz has concluded that U . S . and British lend - lease assisted Soviet victory on the Eastern Front , but it was not a critical factor : ' left to themselves , the Soviets might have taken 12 to 18 months longer to defeat the Wehrmacht . ' The Command , in conjunction with the British Tenth Army and Soviet troops , also provided security for the Teheran Conference in the fall of 1943 , the meeting of United States President Franklin D . Roosevelt , British Prime Minister Winston Churchill , and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin in the capital city of Iran . Allied troops all over the country were on the alert to protect the Big Three . The British , Soviet and American troops together prevented a German assassination attempt on the leaders at the conference . PGC Insignia . PGC SHOULDER SLEEVE INSIGNIA : Description : On a green shield , 3 inches high , a 7 pointed white star above a red scimitar fimbriated in white bendwise , point up . Symbolism : The red scimitar , from the flag of Iran ( or Persia ) represented the warlike spirit of the ancient Persians . The white seven pointed star is taken from the flag of the Kingdom of Iraq . It represents purity and religion of the Middle East . The green color of the shield denotes the agriculture of Persia in olden days , and also stands for Islam , which is the religion of both Iran and Iraq . The colors red , green and white are found in the flags of both countries . Background : The date the insignia was originally approved is not contained in the Institute of Heraldry files . Correspondence dated 13 May 1944 indicates the insignia drawing may be declassified . The unclassified drawing was approved on 29 August 1944 . Commanders . Donald H . Connolly , 1942 – 1944 . Donald Prentice Booth , January 1945 until inactivation .