leigh kitchen

Thank you - looks like "Wunsche" did'nt exist then.

Thanks, the unit is listed as previous service in a WWII wehrpas - I wonder if it's a misinterpretation of handwritten "Munchen" ?

Thank you, I'd noticed that Davis had "missed" this cap out of his book although of course he includes a few Torins & tents of other units. I have a small WWII book on coloured FSC (which I can't locate at the moment, I think it's Regimental Badges & Service Caps, 1941), it shows an all khaki cap, as I recall it's simply the universal FSC.

Thanks, it looks like this cap on the 2nd Bn oficers, tho' Captain Eager appears to be wearing one in different colours. I'm assuming that: "Regimental History of the Northumberland Fusiliers mentions this cap being worn 1938 to 1940 because after Dunkirk they re-designed a kharki model of the above side-cap which was worn throughout the Second World War" actually refers to the adoption of the plain khaki universal FSC rather than a khaki version of the Torin.

I may be wrong, but I understand the Red white & blue ribbon to have been used on most WWI awrded medals rather than their own unique ribbons - so I think the use of this ribbon denotes a WWI issue medal.

I shouold get around to getting some Ryker cases - I've always liked this, a frame a relative bought me, but I'm too tight to spend about ?45 a throw on them. Theses are some of my 1914/15 Star groups, they're crammed in, but the ribbons which have medals laying on top of them are all replacement ribbon jobs so no harm being done to original ribbons.

The 23 x gold braid stripes on RAF backing are either uncut or belonged to the unluckiest man in the RAF.

Yes, I will dig out a couple of variations on the brass wound stripes as weel. Here are 3 x gold braid stripes on dark blue, so presumably worn on Blues by army & RM, & by police, ARP & similar organistions. These 3 have been trimmed & worn as a patch of 3 stripes.

Close up of badge, bit blurred.

The badge, presumably an officers Full Dress collar dog.

The info that I've got is that this Gosling Green & black (it's more of a brown in the photos I would think) & black cap is described (but not illustrated) in the Military Historical Society Special Booklet On Coloured Field Service Caps (Infantry) as being: "Worn by officers, who were only allowed to wear in mess dress by orderly officers: no. 1 Blues & when in camp. It was not permitted for wear in public". I'm also told: "Regimental History of the Northumberland Fusiliers mentions this cap being worn 1938 to 1940 because after Dunkirk they re-designed a kharki model of the above side-cap which was worn throughout the Second World War." Gosling Green was the facing colour of the old Northumberland Fusiliers, allegedly the name is derived from the term "goose **** green" used by the French as an insult to the regiment during the Peninsular War. It appears that this was worn as a mess dress item item & other than that only by Orderly Officers & that it was a particularly short lived item of dress. Does anyone know any more about this type of cap please, any photos about?

Can anybody tell me any information about this unit please? I have no knowledge when it comes to these units and no reference materials other than the internet & I've drawn a blank there.

British protestations at sawback bayonets were rather hypocritical given their own history with saw backs - their old saw bladed yatagans too had their saw teeth ground off. I've yet to find reference to rough treatment handed out to Germans captured in possession of saw backs other than in "All Quiet". A similar legend amongst the British was that Lewis Gunners got "special treatment" if captured & there are written references to their "LG" qualification badges being removed & dirt smeared over the resultant clean oval of sleeve material before an attack - but I'm not sure if I've ever read of Lewis Gunners actually being singled out for the good old "special treatment"?

The plastics used in some medal envelopes actually cause damge to medals over time apparently, some materials used as backings can also cause problems eg felt causes tarnishing. Although I tend not to bother, it seems a good idea to give medals a gentle clean when you get them in order to remove any harnful deposits such as acid from fingers etc. A liitle soap and water & careful drying is reccommended by some collectors, tho' that's very much going to depend on the indivisual medal. A bit of brasso or duraglit on an already polished or worn 1914 Star is'nt going to do any harm, but I'd refrain from attacking much else with those. I tend to leave things alone, tho' as & when I ever frame up things like my collection of odds & ends single WWI British medals I might give them a bit of a clean, & I suspect it's so much easier to find a place on a wall with a woman about the house if what your sticking up on the wall is colourful & shiny. One of my wifes objections to my British army cap badge collection is that I leave them dull & dirty looking instead of polishing them up nice & shiny, but that's deliberate - polishing those can remove most if not all of the clues that show you such a badge is genuine. My medals live where they always have - in boxes & folders awaiting the day that I get myself organised & frame them.

Would'nt a jubilee medal be worn after campaign but before long service awards, as in UK, rather than taking precedence over this mans campaign medals? Are UN medals counted the same as home country awards in Canada, or do Canadian medals of any type take precedence over UN medals as being foreign awards?

What are his details?

I've just ahd a flick through Mike Chappell's "The British Soldier in the 20th Century 2, Field Service Head Dress 1902 to the present day" (Weesex Military Publishing, 1987) - a num,ber of little colour illustrations of examples of the glengary as worn by some different units with khaki Service Dress circa WWI - that of the Black Watch is shown without a black bow.

What is it about matelots & verdigris? Always polishing the old brass monkeys or the powder monkeys or whatever. I don't know anything about thes glangarys, but I think that the reference to "1st pattern glengary" may be to it's wear in the era when they were a general item of issue headgear (the 1870's?) & had not yet been restricted to Scottish units - I'm not sure that the black bow was worn at that time by even Scottish units, but I may very well be wrong on that.

"North Midland Divisional Transport And Supply Column, ASC" I should have said - at least, that's what Ray Westlake states in "Collecting Metal Shoulder Titles". He states that North Midland Divisional Transport And Supply Column, ASC contained: North Midland Divisional Company, Lincoln and Leicester Brigade Company, Staffordshire Brigade Company and the Notts and Derby Brigade Company

I don't know about Indian Army units, but obviously long sliders were fitted (sometimes locally) to HP centres etc for wear with the pagri. I don't really think that authority cared about the the comfort of troops in terms of loop fittings & foreheads & soft headgear - eg badges such as those of the RRF & RWF of the 1960's onwards - wide anodised metal "prongs" about 3/4" or an inch long on a badge only ever intended to be worn on the beret as OR's & Junior NCO's of the units only wear berets not caps. As asides, some units had there loop fittings changed locally for sliders - my father as a WWII / Palestine era member of 1 WG states that their cap badges were altered by having the sliders fitted simply for convenience of removal for cleaning etc. A WG officer by the name of Johnson I think - author of "Miracle on The Marne"? states that in his end of WWII Guards officer training squad, his Irish Sgt Major studied him closely on parade one morning before enquiring along the lines of "Johnson, phwhat is it that's wrong with your bog-brush?" as his WG badge was fitted with a slider & was wonky in his cap. Not a lot to do with anything, but I like the story.

Sliders were not used on badges purely for wear on the beret, they were in use prior to WWI, suggestions are that they came in about 1911, but I would have thought before that.

"North Midland Divisional Transport And Supply Column"

It's the badge worn by sergeants of the 42nd. They amalgamated with another numbered regiment in 1881, and "lost" the number in favour of a name, the new regiment adopting St Andrew as a centrepiece to the badge instead of the number 42. The 42nd had the lowest number within the union of the two regiments & thus being the senior of the two they became the 1st Battalion of the new, named regiment. They chose to keep the old 42 badge for their sergeants. It appears that this tradition continued past the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 (after which the crown design should have changed to a sloping sided crown - the Tudor Crown also known as the King's Crown as it used during the reigns of Kings Edward VII, George V, Edwards VIII & George VI up until about 1952). The variety of Victorian Crown used on the badge is not the usual "big eared" version of Queen Victoria's Crown but a lesser used design worn by a few units and is not dissimilar to the King's Crown, although they are different. This may have assisted in extending the badges life beyond circa 1881 as to the flat topped Victorian Crown could be easily mistaken for the correct King's Crown. It is possible that the regiment did'nt want to dispose of stocks of expensive badges (being multi - part with gilded components), although no doubt they would have wanted to maintain their "42" in use. It appears that about 1926 there was an issue of the "42" badge with the King's Crown - perhaps authority had caught up with the battalion (although if that was the case I'd have expected the "42" to have been replaced by St Andrew in the centre as well as the crown to be changed), perhaps the supply of old flat topped Victorian badges ran out & the dies were no longer available or it was just thought appropriate to change to a King's Crown at last. At some point a version of the badge with King's Crown & St Andrew in the centre has been produced - perhaps this had been worn post death of Queen Victoria by the sergeants of the 2nd Battalion? About 1936 (I think) the title of the regiment was changed from The Royal Highlanders (Black Watch) to The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) which meant that the names on the two sets of scrolls needed to be swapped around. Instead of this being done it was decided to dispense with the scrolls - hence the versions of the regiments badges without the name scrolls - however instead of the patterns with scrolls being replaced they carried on in use and appear to have been worn through WWII and in some cases into the 1950's. Absence of the Sphinx & "EGYPT" on a Black Watch badge means that that badge was not worn by a Regular Army Battalion. As an aside, similar badges to those of the Black Watch were worn by The Glasgow Highlanders, who were nothing to do with The Black Watch, (being a Territorial Force Battalion of a completely different regiment, The Highland Light Infantry), & by The Highland Cyclist Battalion, another T.F. unit the badges of these units lacked the sphnx & "EGYPT". Your badge is that of Sergeants of the pre 1881 42nd, which continued in use by sergeants of the 1st Battalion Royal Highlanders (Black Watch) following the 42nd's amalgamation into that regiment in 1881, and appears to have been worn up until at least 1926. A quick edit - when I said in my previous post that I had a King's Crown version of this badge with St. Andrew in the centre but that I thought it was a fake, I did'nt mean that a badge of this design did'nt exist as a genuine badge, just that the example I own is possibly a fake. _______________ Nothing Significant To Report.

The bloke in the middle - who's he? Looks like he's wearing a Light Infantry tie - medals include WWII France & Germany Star, a General Service Medal with a couple of campaign bars, a Korean War pair, a post 1962 Campaign Service Medal & a UNFICYP. The photos taken in Holland? Is he connected with Arnhem? Or a bit further afield, Pegasus Bridge? I feel I should know this man from the history books?

I would'nt have made out the mystery medal from the photo - I was going to suggest an Omani medal from what I could make out of the design. The Drill Sgt appears to be wearing the UNMIBH, not the UNPROFOR Medal, from the ribbon. Why would a UN serving Canadian police officer be attached to the British army / police - surely they are part of a national police contingent within a UN Missions Civilian Police Contingent? Just had another look - looks like I'm wrong & it is the UNPROFOR ribbon.