Military Health Service Unit Arms
November 2006, updated March 2008
The South African Military Health Service uses unit coats of arms, which are worn on the sleeves as so-called "shoulder flashes".
In the early 1970s, the shields were convex at the top, and many had the same design of a Rod of Aesculapius (with two cobras instead of the generic serpent) and the unit's number or initials in chief. The current pattern is the same as the Army's, i.e. a heater-shaped shield measuring 60mm x 50mm. The following is a small selection of unit arms.
Command HQs
Regional command's arms displayed the Rod of Aesculapius on two crossed swords, with an enarched chief depicting appropriate regional charges. Example:
Eastern Province Medical Command:
Murrey, two swords in saltire surmounted by a rod erect Argent the latter entwined of a serpent Or; on a chief enarched Argent three dolphins hauriant Sable.
Field Ambulances
The standard pattern for the arms of field ambulance units was Murrey, a rod erect entwined of two cobras Or and ensigned of the Arabic numerals ... Argent; a bordure Or, with the unit's number above the rod, e.g. 13 for 13 Field Ambulance. Earlier versions of the field ambulances' arms had the numerals in green inside a golden ring. The field ambulances were incorporated into the medical battalion groups in the 1980s.
Medical Battalion Groups
The arms of the medical battalion groups, which were formed in the 1980s, are all divided in various ways into murrey and argent, and display one or more Maltese crosses fitchy at the feet, corresponding to the number in the unit's title, e.g. the arms of
3 Medical Battalion Group are
Per chevron Murrey and Argent, three Maltese crosses fitchy at the feet counterchanged.
Military Hospitals
The arms of military hospitals are Murrey, a rod erect entwined of two cobras Or and ensigned of the Arabic numeral ... Argent; a bordure Or, with the hospital's number above the rod, e.g. 1 for 1 Military Hospital. Earlier versions had the numbers in red inside golden rings.
Training Units
The arms of the
SAMHS Training Centre combine traditional symbols of learning and medicine:
Murrey, a torch erect Or enflamed proper fimbriated and entwined of two cobras; a bordure all Or.
Note: although the arms are registered at the Bureau of Heraldry, the blazons aren't published in the Government Gazette or on the Bureau's online database, so the blazons given above are my reconstructions from examples of the arms concerned.
References/Sources/Links
Calendars, illustrated with unit arms, published by Castrol in the 1980s and '90s
Owen, CR: Military Badges and Insignia of Southern Africa (1990)
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