Every element of the Youth on Guard crest carries meaning. Each was chosen to anchor the Foundation in the tradition it serves.
To establish and maintain a unified organizational emblem that pays homage and respect to the purpose of the organization — to never forget, to raise a generation of youth with a mindset of honor, and to provide a place to grieve.
Each symbol within the crest was chosen with intention. Read together, they tell the whole of the Foundation’s purpose.
The laurel is the ancient mark of victory in death, and of remembrance. Here it is inverted — a sign of grief — mirroring the six inverted wreaths upon the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which honor the six major campaigns of the First World War. Each branch carries sixteen leaves, one for every line of the Sentinel’s Creed, and the stems are crossed to represent the bonds formed in training.
Six stars draw the eye to the sixth line of the Sentinel’s Creed: “My standard will remain perfection.” They remind every Sentinel of the dignity owed to the Unknowns, and of the pursuit of excellence the watch demands.
The shield stands for the familial bonds among those who serve, and for a protective philosophy of leadership. As the shields of Spartan and Trojan warriors overlapped to guard the soldier beside them, so do Sentinels develop and protect one another.
Twenty-one — for the twenty-one-gun salute, the highest of military honors, and for 2021, the year Youth on Guard became an independent organization. It is echoed, too, in the Sentinel’s twenty-one-step march and the twenty-one-second pause held at each turn.
At the center stands the Tomb of the Unknowns — the reason the watch is kept, and the heart from which every other element of the crest draws its meaning.
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