Epaulette

Epaulette (/ˈɛpəlɛt/; also spelled epaulet)[1] is a type of ornamental shoulder piece or decoration used as insignia of rank by armed forces and other organizations.

The placement of the epaulette, its color and the length and diameter of its bullion fringe are used to signify the wearer's rank.

Epaulettes were made in silver or gold for officers and in cloth of various colors for the enlisted men of various arms.

[citation needed] Heavy artillery wore small balls representing ammunition on their shoulders.

This originated during the 19th century as a simplified version for service wear of the heavy and conspicuous full dress epaulette with bullion fringes.

Trumpeters of the Royal Escort are distinguished by all red epaulettes while officers of the two units wear silver or gold respectively.

Epaulettes in the form of shoulder boards are worn with the officer's white Naval Service Dress.

After the unification of the Forces, and prior to the issue of the distinctive environmental uniforms, musicians of the Music Branch wore epaulettes of braided gold cord.

Other cavalry such as hussars, dragoons and chasseurs à cheval wore special epaulettes of a style originally intended to deflect sword blows from the shoulder.

In the modern French Army, epaulettes are still worn by those units retaining 19th-century-style full dress uniforms, notably the ESM Saint-Cyr and the Garde Républicaine.

In recent years, the Marine Infantry and some other units have readopted their traditional fringed epaulettes in various colours for ceremonial parades.

Until World War I, officers of the Imperial German Army generally wore silver epaulettes as a distinguishing feature of their full-dress uniforms.

[10] During the period 1919–1945, German Army uniforms were known for a four cord braided "figure-of-eight" decoration which acted as a shoulder board for senior and general officers.

A similar form of shoulder knot was worn by officers of the British Army in full dress until 1914 and is retained by the Household Cavalry today.

Epaulettes of the German pattern (as well as shoulder knots) are used by officers of ceremonial units and schools of the Bolivian Army.

[11] During the Haitian Revolution, Gen. Charles Leclerc of the French Army wrote a letter to Napoleon Bonaparte saying, "We must destroy half of those in the plains and must not leave a single colored person in the colony who has worn an epaulette.”[12][13] During the Tanzimat period in the Ottoman Empire, western style uniforms and court dresses were adopted.

General, here: Field marshal of Russian Vyborg 85th infantry regiment of German Emperor Wilhelm II.

Staff-officer, here: lieutenant-colonel of the 2nd Life Dragoon Pskov Her Imperial Majesty Empress Maria Feodorovna regiment 3d.

[14] In 1855, army officers' large, gold-fringed epaulettes were abolished[15] and replaced by a simplified equivalent officially known as twisted shoulder-cords.

Today, only the officers of the Yeomen of the Guard, the Military Knights of Windsor, the Elder Brethren of Trinity House and the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports retain fringed epaulettes.

British cavalry on active service in the Sudan (1898) and during the Boer War (1899–1902) sometimes wore epaulettes made of chainmail to protect against sword blows landing on the shoulder.

The blue "Number 1 dress" uniforms of some British cavalry regiments and yeomanry units still retain this feature in ornamental silvered form.

[17] With the introduction of khaki service dress in 1902, the British Army stopped wearing epaulettes in the field, switching to rank insignia embroidered on the cuffs of the uniform jacket.

During World War I, this was found to make officers a target for snipers, so the insignia was frequently moved to the shoulder straps, where it was less conspicuous.

In modern times, epaulettes are frequently worn by professionals within the ambulance service to signify clinical grade for easy identification.

These are typically green in colour with gold writing and may contain one to three pips to signify higher managerial ranks.

Merchant Marine may wear shoulder marks and sleeve stripes appropriate to their rank and branch of service.