Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 January 1920 — ORIGIN OF CITATION CORD [ARTICLE]

ORIGIN OF CITATION CORD

French Tradition BSy It Was Conferred for Bravery, Under ,<»- ' ” ' Circumstances. -X' -5 According to French tradition, the citation cord originated centuries ago, when the soldiers of a. certain company that bad mutinied were to be hanged. Before the sentence could be carried out, the French were attacked, and the condemned men were called on to aid in the defense. They went into action, so to speak, with halters around their necks; but they fought with such supreme bravery that they were pardoned, and thereafter eech man was permitted to wear as a badge of hdnor,. and as a token of suffering and heroistn, a knotted cord round bls shoulder. The origin of the citation cord can be explained in a more logical way If one examinee ancient pictures, which show that shoulder cords can be traced back to simpler conditions until they appear merely as metpl tipped laces to bear the weight of certain pieces of armor. Such laces appeared In pairs on both shoulders; they have survived in the aigulette of the modern officer’s dress uniform. As armor began to be discarded piece by piece, paintings of the period show, laces to support the arm pieces, since they wag~~hb longer iteddM," were looped about the shoulders and became merely marks that distinguished the wearer as high in the order of military dignity.