Military Police Patch Crossed Pistols

The pistols on the Military Police branch device are flintlocks, modeled on the Model 1805 Harper's Ferry pistol, the first pistol made for the American military. The crossed pistols were approved for the Military Police in 1922, nearly twenty years before the Military Police Corps itself was established on September 26, 1941. Choosing an early American sidearm tied the branch to the oldest days of the Army. MPs have worn the device ever since. Nearly every soldier who has passed through an Army post gate has seen it.

The lineage runs back to the Continental Army. In January 1776 William Maroney was appointed the first Provost Marshal, and on May 20, 1778, Congress established the Provost Corps that George Washington called the Marechaussee, commanded by Captain Bartholomew von Heer until it was disbanded in 1783. The modern Military Police Corps took shape in 1941 as the Army mobilized for World War II. Its branch colors are green piped with yellow, and its motto is Assist, Protect, Defend. Today the U.S. Army Military Police School trains its soldiers at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

This patch is the pistols alone, cut to their silhouette, 4 inches wide and 2.5 inches tall. Both flintlocks are stitched in copper and tan thread outlined in dark brown, with the barrels crossing in the middle and the grips curving down at each side. The lockwork, hammers and trigger guards are traced in fine brown lines, and a round detail beneath each lock is picked out in a lighter tan. There is no lettering and no background, just the device itself. On a dark jacket or a shadow box backing, the shape is unmistakable.

MP work has always been about standards. The job covers law enforcement on post, route and convoy security, detainee operations, area security and investigations, often all in the same deployment. It asks soldiers to keep their heads when everyone around them has lost theirs, and to apply the rules the same way to everyone. That is not a job that wins a lot of thanks in the moment. The people who did it know what it took.

It fits a shadow box next to an MP brassard, a unit patch and ribbons, or a vest worn to a Military Police Regimental Association gathering. It is also a simple gift for a son, daughter or spouse who wore the crossed pistols, or for a retired MP who still talks about his first post. It mounts on a jacket, vest or range bag. The pistols say the rest.