InfoCentral

Every week the library publishes an article in the Westland Observer on a new subject. Below is this week's article.

Heraldry

InfoCentral, May 10 - 16, 2007

Since man first warred on his fellow man, it has been important to be able to recognize friend from foe on the battlefield; "Ow, no hit Ug. Ug friend..." Before the evolution of armor and helmets, this was fairly simple - you could tell who was hitting you by what he looked like. Even in the early days of armor, styles varied enough country to country that you could know your enemy on sight - anyone that has seen the recent movie "300" could easily tell the Spartans from the Persians.

As war grew more complex, armor grew more and more similar, it became vitally important to have some way of sorting out the enemy. This led to the art of Heraldry - where each (important) combatant had a distinctive device - a picture, as it were, that distinguished knight from knight - so an illiterate peasant wouldn't accidentally skewer his liege, and other knights would know who to attempt to kill or capture. These devices were displayed on shields or battle flags.

As armies grew yet larger, and small battles turned into World Wars, it was not only important to distinguish country from country, but even parts of the military from each other. This led to the evolution of insignia - shoulder flashes on uniforms, rank badges to tell leader from grunt, battalion and division insignia and more. These insignia soon became inextricably linked to the history of the service it represented - the First Infantry Division is more commonly referred to as "the Big Red One" from its shoulder flash; the U.S. Air Force Demonstration Squadron is far better known as the Thunderbirds from the distinctive paint scheme on its planes which is echoed on the badges and insignia of its pilots and crew.

If you are interested in learning more about military identification, the library has some superb books on heraldry, in the 929 area, and books on identifying more current military insignia in the military history area, Dewey number 355.

Come visit us at 6123 Central City Parkway, or call for more information at (734) 326-6123. And you can always visit us online: westland.lib.mi.us