The U S Army Armor Association’s Order of St. George

LTC (Ret) William K. Emerson

In 1986 the US Army Armor Association introduced the

Order of St. George to honor outstanding cavalry and

armor service. The awards consist of 1-3/8 inches wide

red and white neck ribbons suspending 2-1/2 inches

diameter medallions that display St. George slaying a

dragon. The awards come in three degrees: bronze, silver,

and gold. The purpose of this article is to describe the

awards and their criteria.

The Armor Association is a direct descendant of the

Cavalry Association, formed in 1885. The old Cavalry

Journal became the Armor Magazine after World War

II, and in the late 1970s the magazine became a

government publication. While the United States Armor

Association still maintains a close relationship with the

US Army Armor School and the military offices at Fort.

Knox, the historical relationship between the magazine

and the society no longer officially exists. Even so, the

Armor Association actively supports the US Army’s

armor and cavalry force. One example is through the

Order of St. George.

from the 12:00 o’clock through the hands’ sweep to about

8:00 o’clock and then the dragon’s tail, starting from

about the 6:00 o’clock point, picks up the sweep and

continues to about 11:00 o’clock. St. George himself is

portrayed with a flowing cloak, and his broken lance,

the base portion in his right hand, and the lance’s point

and front staff are broken off in the beast. Around the

edge, separated from the central design, are words in

capital letters: The top half has UNITED STATES

ARMOR ASSOCIATION, separated by a large dot,

then the founding year of the Cavalry Association 1885,

followed by another dot and the words which complete

the edge THE HONORABLE ORDER OF ST,

GEORGE. Overall the very hefty and impressive medal

is 5/16 inch thick, and weighs 6 ounces.

Figure 1. Obverse of the Order of St. George.

All three orders are massive and identical in design. The

obverse (Figure 1) displays a mounted St. George and a

dragon in high relief. Although St. George and his horse

dominate, the artistic design has the dragon wings going

Figure 2: Reverse of the Order of St. George.

The order’s reverse (Figure 2) has a large open area to allow for engraving. Around the edge, except for a small opening at the top, is a representation of a laurel wreath. Immediately above the point where the laurel wreath halves join, at the bottom of the planchet, is a triangle, divided into three equal portions. This represents the tank force shoulder patch developed at the close of World War I. The three segments represented infantry, cavalry, and artillery, the arms from which the original tank force soldiers were drawn.

The order is suspended by a cotton neck ribbon, with

the red half as the upper color. The ends of the red and

white neck ribbon for the Order of St. George are sewn

together at the suspension point and a typical ribbon is

24 inches wide at that point. Cavalry guidons have been

red and white intermittently, and today’s cavalry

organizations have adopted red and white, divided

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horizontally (like a guidon) or diagonally (taken from a military map symbol for a cavalry unit), as their unofficial colors. For this reason it is worthwhile to briefly visit the history of the US Army cavalry guidons.

The earliest US Army cavalry guidon appeared in 1835, described as a swallow tail device. The longest edge was 3 feet 5 inches while the lance dimension was 2 feet, 3 inches high. This guidon, divided red above and white below, had the white letters ’"US" on the red portion and the company letter, in red, on the white lower half. (The cavalry had not yet adopted the term "troop" rather than "company.") During the Civil War guidons changed to resemble the stars and stripes while retaining the swallow tail design, and this remained until 1885 when the horizontally divided red and white returned, but with the regimental number replacing the pre Civil War "US." Despite this history, by act of Congress and by Army Regulation the official color for both armor and cavalry is yellow, the uniform trim color adopted by the 1st Dragoons in 1833. (In 1851 the dragoons adopted orange and the new cavalry units of 1855 reclaimed yellow until the realignment of all mounted units as cavalry, with yellow as their color, in 1861.)

Figure 3: Plastic box with "Bronze" label

While the silver version is easy to distinguish, there might be some confusion if a person not familiar with the order only had the gold or the bronze award. The bronze degree

of the Order of St. George has a decided "new penny" copper tint. The gold medallion has a yellowish hue but could be confused for a bronze version if found alone. The medals I have examined had labels for bronze (Figure 3) and gold (Figure 4) on the boxes to insure there was no confusion, although in side-by-side comparisons, they are easily distinguished.

Figure 4: Plastic box with "Gold" label

Various production runs have been made and the boxes containing the awards vary with the run. Boxes which contain recent silver and bronze issues are of light white cardboard, 4-1/2 by 3-1/2 inches, and one inch high. Inside the container is a blue foam pad, 1/2 inch thick, with most of the ribbon tucked under this insert with the order and a small portion of the ribbon extending to the upper side of the foam. A thin flexible clear plastic cover slides over the cardboard box, allowing the order to be viewed. Current gold orders are in hard clear plastic boxes, slightly over 3-1/2 x 4-1/2 and 3/4 inches thick, with a thin foam insert. Given the thickness of the planchet and the neck ribbon, the box is too thin and does not close well. One must assume this is the reason for the subsequent change to cheaper looking but better fitting cardboard boxes.

Also provided with each order is a metal insignia, 6/10 inch in diameter (Figure 5.) These designs are appropriately colored to match the award and are clearly

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struck impressions similar to the larger planchets, including the edge wording. The bronze and silver versions have a single tine and a clutch to hold the pin in place and are intended as lapel buttons. The gold version has a short chain and T bar attached to the clutch so it may also be used as a tie tack. All of these devices come in hard plastic boxes, slightly over 1 inch long and wide, and about 3/4 inch high, with a clear plastic lid. The bottoms of these boxes are marked to show the maker, Achievement Products, Inc., East Hanover, NJ.

Figure 5: A lapel pin, 6/10 inch in diameter, for the Order of St. George.

Initially there were also ten, 14 karat gold lapel pins made by Major General Stan Sheridan, a major supporter of the Armor Association, who died in 2001. These small pins, which are 7 mm in diameter, were judged to be too costly to continue to be awarded, so after the initial production run of ten, the current design became the standard issue.

The history leading to the creation of these three awards has already become obscured. Several armor officers associated with establishing the orders have died or their current addresses are not known by the Armor Association. Questions as to when the concept of Armor Association awards evolved, who created the design, why a neck ribbon is used, and why there are three degrees with their criteria, cannot now be answered.

St. George is the patron saint of cavalry since he is usually shown on horseback and even to better suit today’s mechanized force, he wears armor. The original St. George lived in the late 3rd Century. Due to his

chivalrous behavior (protecting women, fighting evil, slaying dragons and the like) he became popular in medieval times and many patrons were knights. For this reason it became common to show him as a knight on horseback. One of St. George’s legend is his slaying a dragon that lived in a lake near Silena, Libya. For his brave feat the king gave him a large reward which St. George distributed to the poor before riding away. St. George is often painted on the ends of houses in southern Germany since he is also patron saint of field workers, agricultural workers, and farmers. He also serves as the patron saint of saddle makers, horsemen, and many others.

Receipt of an Order of St. George requires nomination and approval, as follows. Once approved and with the payment of a nominal fee, a medal, lapel pin, and certificate are supplied by the Armor Association. Any US Army Armor colonel in a position to evaluate the fitness of a nominee may approve the award of the Bronze Medallion. The chief of armor (Commanding General of Fort Knox) approves the award of the gold and silver versions. The criteria for the awards follows. It is important to remember these are awards of the Armor Association and thus in addition to these requirements, a person must also be a member of the Association.

Bronze:

1. If an officer, demonstrate successful command of an armor or cavalry unit.

2. If an enlisted soldier, demonstrate successful leadership as a platoon sergeant, first sergeant, or command sergeant major.

3. If a warrant officer, demonstrate superb tactical and technical competence in support of, or be a leader of, armor or cavalry units.

4. Demonstrate tactical and technical competence at

both their current levels of service and at those of their subordinates.

5. Be nominated by an officer or enlisted man qualified in the armor branch and who is a member of the Armor Association.

Silver:

1. Meet the criteria for the bronze award. 2. Have an approved retirement date or reassignment

date that will take the awardee away from armor or cavalry duties permanently.

3. Have a recommendation for approval for the first colonel in the chain of command.

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