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The
armiger bears canting
arms: his name “Pille”
is a Flemish dialect
word, meaning “arrow”.
The three arrows
represent the armiger’s
three most important
life values: honesty,
diligence and eagerness
to learn. The chevron
with the three roses
symbolise the armiger’s
aim in life : to live in
service of God, country
and family. The two main
tinctures : Azure and
Argent are those of the
arms of the town of
Wevelgem, the cradle of
the Pille Family.
The crest reflects the
armiger’s military
career during which he
was a senior officer in
the Belgian Explosive
Ordnance Disposal (EOD)
Group. The lion in the
crest refers to the Coat
of Arms of the Kingdom
of Belgium and to the
Brussels Royal Military
Academy, while the
grenade stands for the
bomb disposal missions
and operations in which
he participated.
The armiger has
privately assumed
supporters; dexter a
Dolphin Or langued
Gules, sinister a Boar
Or langued Gules. The
supporters refer to the
two Belgian EOD
battalions, operating
during and after WWII.
The dolphin (dexter) was
the unit insignia of the
Coast EOD Battalion,
whereas the boar
(sinister) was the
insignia of the EOD
batallion, operating in
the Ardennes. By
extension, the dolphin
represents the North of
the country (Flanders),
the boar the South (the
Walloon region) and the
lion in the crest
symbolizes the bonding
factor between these two
regions of Belgium.
Cdr (Ret’d) Philippe A.
A. Pille, MSc Expl Eng,
was during his active
military career a senior
ammunition technical
officer (ATO). He has
been trained as an
Explosive Ordnance
Disposal (EOD) and
Improvised Explosive
Device Disposal (IEDD)
technician in Belgium ,
the UK (Army School of
Ammunition) and Germany
(Bundeskriminalamt and
Technische Truppenschule
des Heeres). He has been
commanding officer of
the Belgian Bomb
Disposal Unit, operating
in the World War I
battlefield area,
surrounding Ypres. He
has also participated in
United Nations missions
in the former republic
of Yugoslavia and in
UNDP de-mining
programmes in Cambodia
as a senior technical
adviser and UN expert on
mission. He is an
Officer in the Order of
the Crown and a Knight
in the Order of King
Leopold.
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