THE CROSS OF LORRAINE
Its Origin and Its Significance.
(Extracts from a Document)
Written from data furnished
by
E. F. HENRI VIARD
B. A. Paris University
Late London Correspondent of "Le Journal"
Sometime Technical Translator to the Ordnance
Department A. E. F.
The Lorraine Cross, official insignia of the Seventy-Ninth Division, United States Army, was adopted shortly after the armistice was signed.
Despite the fact that the Seventy-Ninth Division Artillery did not share in the fighting with the rest of the division, the artillerymen were accorded the privilege of wearing the emblem.
In all its war operations, the Seventy-Ninth Division faced the enemy in Lorraine, the province which the United States was pledged to win back for France.
Victory, in the face of stubborn opposition, crowned the efforts of the Seventy-Ninth Division. It was only appropriate, therefore, that the division should select as its emblem the ancient symbol of victory, The Lorraine Cross.
The divisional insignia was worn on the left sleeve of the uniform blouse at the shoulder.
THE CROSS OF LORRAINE.
A national emblem of the independent Duchy of Lorraine for centuries, and even now a distinctive cognizance of the Border Province of France, the double traverse cross, known as the Cross of Lorraine, forms part of the armorial bearings of no less than 163 noble families. And several military units engaged in the world war adopted the cross as an emblem. These units include, besides the Lorraine Detachment of the French Army, the Seventy-Ninth Division.