Insignia of the U.S. Army Fifth
Division During
the Great War
Emblem shown as the frontispiece to the History of the Fifth
Division in the Great War. Major Charles A. Meals of the Quartermaser
Corps suggested the "Ace of Diamonds, less the ace"
as the Division's emblem. After the Division reached France in
1918 the white "5" in the center was removed, and a
simple red diamond became the insignia.
A division is a self-sufficient fighting force. In World War
I America's 5th Division was to be composed of "two infantry
brigades, with two infantry regiments and one machine gun battalion
each, one artillery brigade of one heavy and two light regiments,
one trench mortar battery, an engineer regiment, a field signal
battalion, a divisional machine gun battalion, a headquarters
troop, a train headquarters and military police, with sanitary,
supply and engineer trains and auxiliary units." It comprised
about 28,000 officers and men.
A poem cited in the History of the Fifth Division (author
unknown; it is signed with the initials H.P.) summarizes their
actions in France:
Red Diamond
Who held high Violu's tortured mass
And guarded well each mountain pass
That linked La France to Belle Alsace?
Red Diamond!
Who drove the Hun from out Frapelle,
Patrolled him out of Fontenelle,
From Ban-de-Sapt, and Plaine near Celles?
Red Diamond!
From Regnieville to Souleuvre Ferme,
Thru Bois de Claude, des Grandes Portions,
Who forced the Huns as they came on?
Red Diamond!
Les Bois des Rappes, de la Pultiere,
Cold Andon stream, the Clerey freres,
Witnessed the valor of men who wear--
Red Diamond!
Across the Meuse, the order read,
The Army's hosts must next be led;
To blast the way the Fifth was sped--
Red Diamond!
Swam river and canal, and stormed
The heights on which the Huns were formed;
From Dun to Remoiville there swarmed
Red Diamond!
The thought of peace stayed not their hand;
After the foe, across the land;
They sped, a freeing, fighting
band--
Red Diamond!
On pine-clad hills among the Vosges,
Near Rembercourt, and where Meuse flows,
In glory sleeps, in last repose,
Red Diamond!
For all that we hold high and dear,
Each facing death without a fear,
Men fought o keep its honor clear--
Red Diamond!
The Diamond cuts; it has no wear;
Its brilliance sparkles everywhere;
The jewel prize in stern warfare--
Red Diamond!
