A few days after Napoleon’s coronation, Andrew Roberts explains (in Napoleon: A Life), the army’s colonels descended on Paris to receive eagle standards from the Emperor in a ceremony on the Champ de Mars:
‘Soldiers!’ he told them, ‘here are your colours! These eagles will always be your rallying point … Do you swear to lay down your lives in their defence?’
‘We swear!’ they ceremoniously replied in unison.
Cast out of six pieces of bronze welded together and then gilded, the eagles each measured 8 inches from eartip to talons, 9 ½ inches between wingtips, and weighed 3 ½ pounds.*
They were mounted on a blue oaken staff with the regimental colours and the role of eagle-bearer was much prized, although with the customary irreverence of soldiers the standards were soon nicknamed ‘cuckoos’.
Napoleon is supposed to have said something like, “medals are important,” and by extensions so are other symbols that help maintain unit cohesion and self-sacrifice.