The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-11-03

struction and lifted its face to the
clear skies of the promise Of peace;
for remembering the and women who Of
fered up their lives for their country-those who
staid lover there as well as those who came
home.
And do you remember when they came home
and staged their Victory marches" through the
crowded, cheering streets of our principal cities
how you noticed the little patches of color of diff
ferent design which they their left Shout
ders? Perhaps you knew then what was the
meaning Of those symbols but the chances are
that you, and most other Americans as WE'LL have
forgotten by now.
So this is to recall it to you-the story of the
insignia of the various divisions in the American
Expeditionary Forces, "the sign of the fighting
man."
You may not recall although hundreds OF
thousands Of World war veterans undoubtedly
will, what an uproar was raised at one time over
that little patch of color on the left shoulder Of
the returning soldiers khaki coat For when the
troops ready TO embark for home, the War
department issued an order prohibiting the wear
ing of divisional insignia by the doughboys upon
their return to America. 1t was 'unmilitary," the
department saio.
Almost instantly a tide of protest rolled into
Washington to engulf the department There
were hundred good reasons advanced why the
doughboys should continue TO wear their pet dec
grafton, but chief among them the fact that
these insignia adopted by the different divisions,
were highly useful in making possible their iden-
tifcation at a glance in action or otherwise, and
for purposes either of commentator criti-
cism, as the might be; that the decoration
detracted nothing from the efficiency of the men,
but on the other hand was an incentive to proper
conduct and coordinate effort; and finally that
the man wearing it. each proud of his individual
outfit, was unwilling TO discard it and thus lose
his identity and that of his command In the melt
ing pot of the A. e. F's millions.
These insignia sprang from the popular Amer
lean pastime of giving nicknames, and many of
them were symbolic of the nicknames which had
been given to the various divisions in their train
ing camps during those hectic days of 1917 and
1913 when America was putting forth her SUI
preme effort TO hurry her millions across the
'bridge of ships" in time TO prevent the enemy
from pushing the allies into the These little
shoulder decorations catered to local pride in
that they symbolized the part of the country
from which their wearers came to esprit du
corps in that they recalled some fact In connec-
ton with the history of the division which its
members were proud TO remember. Selected and
adopted by popular vote and not recognized by
military ethics, the insignia had become paradox
ically 'unofficially official"
So the War department decided TO allow the
returning soldiers to keep their divisional insig-
mia and this ruling greeted with as much
widespread approval as the forbidding order had
caused loudly voiced disapproval This applied,
however only to the rank and file. and officers
of the regular army still prohibited from
wearing the insignia of the division whose men
they had commanded. although many of them ex-
pressed desire TO do So
There were 90 divisions in the United States
military forces and each one had its distinctive
insignia Limitations of space in this article pre-
vent the reproduction of the insignia of all OF
them and an extended account of each but the
following represents some of the more interest
ing facts about some typical ones:
First division: An elongated shield of khaki,
point down. bearing the red mineral 1. Figure
IL Since this division the first of the Amer
lean divisions TO go TO France, the first to go into
the trenches the first to suffer battle losses the
first TO capture prisoners and the first to enter
Germany after the Armistice. it is only natural
that il should adopt the mineral l. Only once
was the First division last-that was in return
ing TO the United States for rehabilitation.
Second division A five-pointed white star. hav-
ing the head OF an American Indian facing to the
left in red and blue. stamped or embroidered on
the white star The star and Indian head was
nlaced on background of cloth of various
sbapes and colors to designate the several organ
izations in the division The black shield (Figure
on was used in the insignia of divisional head
quarters This insignia was evolved by truck
driver of the division who practiced painting
symbolic designs on the side of his vehicle and
finally created this one which was adopted by
the division in France.
Third division: square of dark blue cloth
with three white stripes running diagonally
downward from the upper right corner to the
lower left Figure 81. The field OF blue was
symbolic of the loyalty of the "Marnemen-" The
three white stripes stood for the numerical des-
ipnation of the division and also symbolZed the
three major operations in which the Third di-
vision won glory during the World war-the
Marine St Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne.
Fourth division: Four Ivy leaves about cir
Gle the leaves and circle Of green, placed on a
Khaki background (Figure 81. This symbol was