tfall of June 4th, 1919, however, Battery D members, for the
main part, were headed for HOME, to take up the thread of civilian
life where they had severed it months before when they answered the
call of selective service.

THE LORRAINE CROSS

[Illustration]

THE 79th DIVISION INSIGNIA

CHAPTER XXIII.

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.

Before its adoption as an emblem by the reigning house of Lorraine,
the double traverse cross had a long and interesting history.
Important in the history of the development of the shape of the Cross
with its two beams, the design being Byzantine and emblematic of the
triumph of Christ over Death, are ancient double traverse crosses,
each containing fragments of the Real Cross of the Crucifixion. They
are preserved in different sections of France.

The double traverse of the Cross of Lorraine com