Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF) Insignia

Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF) Insignia. National D-Day Memorial. In the autumn of 1943, British Lt. Gen. Frederick Morgan, Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander (COSSAC), directed the creation of a shoulder sleeve insignia (patch) for the use by the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces (AEF). Anticipating that officer’s imminent appointment, COSSAC set up a committee to work with the College of Heralds to develop a design to symbolize the epic task the AEF would undertake in the year ahead, 1944. The Committee’s first effort was unsuccessful, but it did yield one image that became central in the final design: A flaming sword inspired by James Barle Fraser’s (1876-1953) massive sword structure at the new (1936) Second Infantry Division Memorial in President’s Park, Washington, D.C. in that context, the sword refers to the Second Divisions impeding the Germans 1918 advance on Paris. , , COSSAC’s American Deputy, Maj. Gen. R.W. Barker, inherited the redesign effort. In the weeks that followed, the iconography that undergirds the above image evolved indebted to the artistic skill of Corporal Doreen Q. Goodall of the British Auxiliary Territorial Service and subsequently approved by General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the ensignia was worn in SHAEF from March 1944 through August 1945. , , Adapting the form of a kite shield, the SHAEF patch echoes the shields carried by the cross-channel warriors portrayed in the Bayeux Tapestry. Sable (black), its dominant heraldic color represents NAZI oppression. A conventional emblem of hope, the rainbow above the sable field comprises the colors in the flags of the AEF nations. The azure of the heraldic Chief above the rainbow alludes to the expected restoration of peace and tranquility after the Allies expel the NAZIS. Centered in the field, the flaming sword is associated with both expulsion and deterrence (see, for example, Genesis 3:24), an association reinforced by its being a crusader sword as if in anticipation of “The Great Crusade “ referred to in General Eisenhower’s D-Day order. , , Laid out and planted to evoke the SHAEF patch, this garden also evokes the formal landscapes of England, where the planning and preparation for D-Day had begun in the spring of 1943. A commonplace of English gardening, the classical revival folly behind you also acknowledges the architecture of Norfolk House (SHAEF Headquarters) as well as Southwick House (Operations Center for Operation Neptune). The southern orientation of the battle map on the Folly’s ceiling parallels that of the sword shaped planter before you: both point from England to France and toward the triumph arch in the distance, calling for “nothing less than full victory,” General Eisenhower’s D-Day order, which is quoted on the balustraded wall beyond the tip of the sword, literally ends the process of planning and preparation. , , Withdrawn in August 1945, the insignia reappeared for use by European Command in June 1947. By then the Cold War was two years old. The new patch’s field is deep blue instead of black. its other colors are unchanged, as the peace and tranquility implied by the azure chief remained elusive. U.S. Army Europe (USAREUR) adopted this insignia in November 1952 and wears it still. , In honor of Robert D. Bradley, National D-Day Memorial Foundation Board of Directors,1999-2006, and Foundation Chairman, 2007-2009, who wore the USAREUR patch while serving in the Berlin Brigade, 1963-1965. , Given with love by his family on the occasion of his seventieth Birthday. .