Tracy

Thanks Mervyn. I saw your knife pics.....very impressive! It's been great actually getting some IDs and ideas of how to categorise the pieces. The photo album is a treasure itself. Some of the pictures are really quite confronting, but it's true life at war I guess. I hope we can get some replies regarding these photos....

Hello again, Well, my enthusiasm totally overrides my ability to get these badges organised. It's such a big job and I get a little lost just trying to sort through them. Although I have been quiet here, I have been noting a lot of posts and have identified a few of my pieces just from others' photos......so thankyou! I'm also reading "Tobruk" by Peter Fitzsimons. It's heavy reading....very interesting, but I read in bed at night, generally crime novels that you don't have to pay too much attention to, but THIS book!! I find that I have to reread the previous page every time I pick it up. I just don't want to miss anything and I'm taking notes as I go so I can try and match up some photos to the events. So, while I can knock over a cheap thriller in a few nights, this one is taking a lot of time. I've learned a lot though. I will tell you a funny story, a little embarassing, but it will give you an idea of exactly how much of a beginner I am at this military stuff (some might even say I'm a real girl!)... So, I'm going through the badges one night, putting aside ones that have words on them so I can google.. I come across one that is just one word, curved like a badge that goes on a sleeve (I have Harry's Australian one so I'm thinking I know what I'm doing here). Anyway, this one says "LESTINIAN"..... I'm thinking French...it sounds French right? So I Google....nothing. I go to Google translate....nothing. Now I'm getting frustrated. It seems it should be the easiest one of all to find, but no, nothing! So I give up on that one, I'll deal with that later, maybe post it on GMIC.... Then, I'm browsing a few days later, and I see a post, with a picture, and it hits me..... I look at the badge again, taking a close look at the end, right before the "L"...two little nubs..... Yep, that's right, I'm sure you guessed it..... It's "PALESTINIAN"..... the "PA" has just broken off !!! So, be warned (again)... I'm new to this !! Here are a couple more of Harry's photos, just a few random ones from the album. Kind regards to you all Tracy

Hi guys, Thanks for the info. I would be certain that these are originals.... We inherited them with a whole heap of other badges and I know they have been stashed away in a box since Pop's return from the war. He was not a collector or enthusiast, he just 'picked up' a lot of things while he was there. Still trying to find the time to sort them all out.....getting there :)

Thankyou so much for this information. Somehow I had missed these replies.... I have not had as much time as I had hoped to commit to sorting and identifying Harry's badges, but the informatio here, even just browsing through old posts has given me such a good start. Please don't mistake my lack of reponse for lack of gratitude :)

Good evening all I have these badges in my colelction which I am trying to identify. In my Collectors Blog, Mervyn has suggested they are of Middle Eastern style and perhaps WW2 Royal Marine Commando, most likely not official issue. As I really should be psoting here rather than in the blog area, and I suspect mroe of you will read it here anyway, can anyone give any further comment on these? The badges are almost 5cm in length (4.8 to be exact) and have two loops on the back with a split pin. Cheers Tracy

Thankyou so much, Mervyn. Hopefully my improvement in this topic will show as my posts progress

Thankyou for the ID. I do understand they should be posted in the forums, but I have no idea with some of them where they actually are from, so as such have no idea which forum to post them in! I'm getting better though, sorting through and trying to categorise them into countries of origin, or at least having a guess. These were two that had no markings or text on them, so I was at a loss where to post. The dagger is a badge also, with two loops and a split pin on the back. It is almost 5cm long. It did look like a depiction of some sort of nasty weapon and I do believe Harry spent time in the Middle East. I'll have to go back through the regiment book to see exactly where. Harry himself was in the Machine Gun battalion.

I've been trying to sort and photograph my badges and it's a big job. Actually, it's more the fact that I keep getting sidetracked that makes it so time-consuming. A quick browse through the forums here - well there's an hour gone. Or, I'll grab Harry's photo album, maybe just to move it or put it back on the shelf, and I flick through again - another hour..... So, here's a couple of random pieces to show you in the meantime. These, I am quite obviously going to be unable to group with any others and I just love the design of the flower one, so it always stands out for me when I go through the stash. I'm also trying to come up with some kind of database to keep the photos and details/identifications, but time is the problem as always. Thankyou again for the very warm welcome to the group. Just going through the forum posts, I have already been able to identify some of my pieces, and also am getting a bit of an idea of where some of the others may be from to at least get them grouped.

Thankyou so much for making me feel so welcome here. I've been flat out the past few days, but will most certainly post some more soon. Great to be here !

Thankyou for the kind words. I'm looking forward to the journey of discovery, I really feel like I have found the right place to begin. I'll post some more photos a little later.

Well, hello ! I'm hoping not to waste your time here and apologise in advance for my complete lack of knowledge. Until recently, I had never really taken much interest in anything military-related....it always seemed more of a 'boys thing'. Recently, my mother-in-law passed away and in the months following, my father-in-law brought us some items belonging to her father that he had 'collected' during the war. Now, apparently Harry was quite a character....a real 'lad', a wheeler and dealer (sounds like a fun guy, wish I'd met him). One can only imagine how some of these items came to be in his posession, or perhaps it's best not to. Anyway, our Harry was also a very keen photographer and along with the badges, we also received a photo album. The images are amazing, some actually quite confronting in fact, but fascinating for those of us who (fortunately) have no idea what it must have been like to live through that time. For my partner's 40th birthday, I had Harry's medals mounted in a frame with a photo and plaque denoting his service details. I also came across a book about his battalion, Muzzle Blast - Six Years with the 2/2 Australian Machine Gun Battalion AIF So, here I am now with the book, the photos and these badges and buttons, trying to sort a collection into some sort of order, wishing we had known about this collection and the photos before he passed away. I hope you don't mind me sharing with you and asking for advice. I'll also ask that you please forgive my ignorance (feel free to correct me any time I make a mistake!). Here is a photo from the album showing Harry (far left) while on leave in TelAviv I will post photos of other items from the collection shortly. Thanks for having me