Heraldic Activity Established Military heraldic symbols have been used in the U.S. military since the American Revolution. But it was not until 1919 that the heraldry activity was established as a separate function within the Army General Staff. This was in response...

By Arthur Du BoisThe Quartermaster Review – May-June 1928 WHETHER it is fancy, vanity, a dream, or conceit, the Army has developed a desire to be bedecked with symbolic figures representative of ideals, achievements, and exploits. In 1919 the War Department authorized...

By Arthur E. DuboisThe Quartermaster Review -- September-October 1954 The heraldic Program of the Department of Defense provides assistance to the Secretaries of Defense, Army, Navy and Air Force, either individually or collectively, in establishing and maintaining a...

Colonel Ralph R. BurrArmy Information Digest - August 1961 A mistake in identification by a general early in the Civil War started the system of shoulder patches that now is common in the U. S. Army. The use of these distinctive unit emblems to identify soldiers as...