THE ROMANCE OF MILITARY INSIGNIA 



501 



ations by sending troops or ships to the 

 theater of war. 



The following is a list of such nations, 

 arranged in the order of their entry into 

 the War: Serbia, Russia, France, Bel- 

 gium, Great Britain, Montenegro, Japan, 

 Italy, Portugal, Rumania, Greece, United 

 States, China, and Brazil. 



As already narrated earlier in this ar- 

 ticle, a system of clasps was adopted for 

 this medal, and to designate the posses- 

 sion of a battle clasp a small bronze star 

 is worn on the service ribbon. (See 

 service ribbon illustration, page 505.) 

 This is a new departure in decorations. 

 The British have used clasps for more 

 than a hundred years, but they have never 

 indicated them on the service ribbon. A 

 man may have a dozen with his medal or 

 none, the service ribbon is the same ; so 

 this wearing of small bronze stars on our 

 service ribbon to denote the possession of 

 battle clasps is an innovation. As the 

 medal itself is seldom worn, while the 

 service ribbon is worn frequently, it gives 

 more credit for services performed. 



In accordance with the general princi- 

 ple that senior decorations are to the 

 right, silver citation stars should be worn 

 to the right of bronze stars on the service 

 ribbon. 



how shoulder insignia came about. 

 (see numbers 39 to 119, inclusive) 



In the summer of 191 8 the War De- 

 partment received a communication from 

 the commanding general, Port of Em- 

 barkation, Hoboken, reporting that all 

 members of the Eighty-first Division, at 

 that time going through the port on their 

 way to France, were wearing a "wildcat" 

 in cloth on the arm, and requesting in- 

 formation regarding the authority for 

 this device. 



At that time troops were moving rap- 

 idly, more than 300,000 a month, which 

 is an average of less than three days for 

 a division, and by the time the answer 

 came from the War Department to the 

 efTect that no authority existed for the 

 "wildcat" the entire division had de- 

 parted. 



On arrival of this division in France 

 difficulties were at once encountered. The 

 existence of the device was reported to 

 General Headquarters and the Command- 

 ing General was directed to remove the 



insignia. He protested, saying that by 

 its silence the War Department had tacitly 

 authorized it ; that it was most desirable, 

 in order that the officers might readily 

 know the men of the division ; and, 

 finally, that it was highly prized by the 

 personnel and therefore was a great help 

 toward maintaining and improving the 

 morale of the command. 



HELPED MEN TO REASSEMBLE 



It so happened that General Headquar- 

 ters had been studying the question of the 

 identification of units in battle. Experi- 

 ence had shown that some method was 

 necessary for quickly reassembling troops 

 after an offensive. Organizations be- 

 came confused, and after an advance they 

 are almost inextricably mixed. To reas- 

 semble under their own officers rapidly is 

 an important point. 



The British had adopted the system of 

 cloth insignia, placed usually on the back 

 just below the collar, the designs being of 

 different shapes and colors, so arranged 

 that the men would assemble under the 

 nearest officer having insignia like their 

 own. In this way the desired reorganiza- 

 tion was rapidly effected. 



The "wildcat" of the Eighty-first Di- 

 vision seemed to offer a solution of the 

 problem, and as a result it was authorized 

 and the commanding generals of all com- 

 bat divisions in France were at once di- 

 rected to select insignia for their divis- 

 ions. This was later extended to include 

 all the different organizations of the A. 

 E. F., on account of the effect it had on 

 the morale of the troops. 



Inasmuch as these insignia were con- 

 sidered purely for use at the front, they 

 were confined entirely to the A. E. F. 

 The War Department did not adopt any 

 except for the oversea couriers who plied 

 between Washington and General Head- 

 quarters. Consequently, only organiza- 

 tions which were in France have been 

 granted permission to wear shoulder in- 

 signia. The divisions numbered from 

 nine to twenty, inclusive, never left the 

 United States, although several of them 

 selected insignia which would undoubt- 

 edly have been approved upon arrival 

 overseas. Illustrations of these (Nos. 

 50 to 56, inclusive) are here given, but 

 it should be borne in mind that they have 

 never been officially authorized. 



