SHIELDS OF HONOUR.
COMMEMORATING SERVICE IN THE EUROPEAN WAR.
The Ypres Times.
99
By WALTER H. GODFREY, F.S.A.
There is one principle which must control any effective record of War Service, if it
is to be instantly recognised it must be pictorial and must use all the service badges
and signs which speak, as nothing else can speak, in the real language of the War. So
much I had convinced myself when first in 1918 I tackled the problem of compressing
into one symbol the salient facts of each man's career. A captain's stars, a sergeant's
stripes spelled their rank better than any words. The Mons ribbon, together with the
red service chevron said 1914 without equivocation, and no one could mistake the
silver rose on the ribbon. What could tell their own story better than the wound-stripes
themselves, the oak leaf for mention in despatches, the colours of the M.C. or D.C.M.
recalling many a critical incident on those fields of Flanders, and elsewhere The more
one studied the thousand and one badges, symbols, colourssome, like regimental insignia
and ships' crests, the ancient possession of the Army and Navy, others invented and
improvised in the innumerable activities of the Warthe more one was impressed with
the almost unlimited material afforded for designs of real significance, gathering up all
the varied bits of symbolism that attached themselves to each man's service. His rank
and unit, his duties and achievements, his good and bad luck were reflected in these little
shapes and colours of silk, cloth or metal. There were divisional signs, and signs of
Army Corps which told a bigger story and linked him with campaigns and famous leaders
from this it was but a step to adopt Mr. Rudyard Kipling's suggestion and devise simple
symbols to represent the different theatres of this World War, and so repair for one's
own purposes a notable omission of the War Office. Special achievements and experiences
otherwise unrecorded were often easily registered by an appropriate signand so the
subject led one on until an infinite field of opportunity seemed to open out, a chance of
developing a modern branch of art, expressive of real experience, reflecting for each
individual his participation in the greatest of wars, and recording events which in their
poignant, yet glorious interest are not likely to be rivalled in our own times.
No sooner did the possibilities of the idea take full shape than the means to effect it
leaped to the mind. Practically all the symbols were essentially of the same character
as the curious and beautiful charges on the heraldic shields of a past chivalry. They
are indeed the language of a modern chivalry. Practically all the colours, again, of medal
ribbons conform to the manner of the coloured field of the old-time shields, and their
division into stripes, bars and chevrons recalled vividly many a simple or quartered shield
of arms of our warrior ancestors. The similarity between service heraldry as I have
termed it, and the older science of coat-armour, is, of course, only to be found in its aesthetic
material and treatment, except that we may claim for both that they are military in
origin. They are fundamentally different in intention, for historical heraldry is
founded on a personal cognisance, a badge which became a family possession, and which,
in combination with the badges of other families, showed alliances of blood and marriage.
Service heraldry- has no family- significance it is not a coat of arms." but a symbol of
service in the greatest of modern wars. The old heraldic coat is simple in design, and
becomes complex only when the quarterings of an important family set forth its connection
with other houses the service shield is simple or complicated according to the number
of details which it is desired to commemorate. The new heraldry has therefore no
connection with the old, but it uses the same artistic material and that is my- excuse for
setting it within the time-honoured shape of the shield. Nor is it necessary- to abandon
