The OCS badge was originally selected by the late Major-General J. Harrison during his term as Commandant of OCS between 1952 – 54. He felt that the badge should be completely non-partisan, as OCS provided officers to most corps. The badge had to be different from that of RMC and therefore Major-General Harrison chose the general staff badge, a lion on a crown.
The original design was in fact the general staff badge, surrounded by a garter, and all surmounting a scroll with a crown on top of the garter. This design was drawn by a clerk working then in DMO&P; however, on submission of this design it was considered by AHQ that three crowns were just ‘one too many’. Thus, the top crown was eliminated, much to the disapproval of Major-General Harrison who considered that without the third crown the design looked like “an egg on a lettuce leaf”.
So far as the motto was concerned, Major-General Harrison racked his brains and those of other people on his staff for some time for a simple motto. He decided to avoid Latin, complicated or hackneyed mottos. In Major-General Harrison’s view, the motto chosen – ‘Loyalty and Service’ – epitomised the ideal approach of a young man to the Service way of life.
The design for the badge was officially approved in December 1955 without the third crown. Then began the tedious task of selecting appropriate colours to enhance the look of the badge whenever it was displayed on buildings or flags. From December 1959 to September 1960 coloured designs circulated between OCS and AHQ, and after minor adjustments the colours were approved on the 6th September 1960. The colours selected were:
- buttercup for the edges
- saffron for the lion
- garter blue for the background behind the lion and
- cherry for the garter and the scroll.
Such a long drawn out process invites the question ‘Why such a fuss over the little badge?’
Extracted from information in Class Year Books and Neville Lindsay’s book Loyalty and Service.
