Ich Dien

Ich Dien

In 1346 King Edward III of England landed in France with 12,000 men on a punitive expedition against the French who invaded English possessions in the south of France. His objective was to draw off the French forces from that region.

The French reacted in force under King Phillip and gathered together an army of between 30,000 and 40,000 men to drive out the English invaders. Edward had burned and pillaged his way almost all the way to Paris when the French armies arrived.

Edward with nearly 1/3 fewer troops than the French had few options. He decided to make a stand on rising ground that offered protection to his flanks with a river on one side and a dense woodland on the other.

The French army charged 15 times beginning at sunset until the dark of the early morning of the next day. Each time the famed English archers unleashed a storm of arrows leaving the French in disarray.

With the French army that day was John the King of Bohemia who was old and blind. He was arrayed on his finest war horse and wearing his best armor. He ordered his body guard of knights to lead him into the battle so that he could strike one blow with his sword. The little group with their horses reins tied together to guide the blind king made it through the archers and charged the English men at arms who were on foot. There King John of Bohemia fell with all his knights save two who cut their way back to the French lines to tell the tale. The bodies were found the next day, horses still tied together with their king.

The English defeated a superior force that day and the battle became legendary in the history of warfare.

The English Prince of Wales who commanded one of the flanks was so moved by the valor, determination, and sacrifice of the old Bohemian king, that he adopted the King’s crest and motto as his own. The crest was made up of three feathers and the motto Ich Dien which translates as: I Serve.

Over 650 years later, the Prince of Wales and several Regiments in the English army still carry this symbol and the motto, Ich Dien-I Serve, as a reminder of their duty to each other and their country.

We serve the King of Kings and have a duty to him as well. In Mosiah 2:17 we read: “And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God.”

May we all be able to report back to Him who has given us all we have, even His very life, that we also made it our motto: Ich Dien- I Serve!