Fort Carson’s ‘Pilgrim’ Cross to StayJune 21, 2010
Military.com | by Bryant Jordan
The Army has no plans to remove or modify the official emblem of the Fort Carson hospital, which prominently features a Christian cross used by religious warriors and pilgrims during the Crusades.
A church-state watchdog group brought the symbol to the Army's attention in April.
The spike-bottomed cross is based on those carried by pilgrims in the Middle Ages, according to the Army's Institute of Heraldry, which designed the emblem for the Evans Army Community Hospital at Fort Carson, Colo., in 1969.
Critics say the image shows a cross carried by Christian pilgrims, including Crusaders, during the turbulent medieval era when European armies swept through the Middle East conquering lands in the name of religion, says the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which argues the cross has no place on a military facility.
The Army doesn't agree.
Onward Christian Soldiers!