Royal Artillery badges

[IrishGunner]

I have a few RA badges to add to this thread, which I assume is OK to do. I have two of the printed WWII period cloth arm badges used on a field made pennant.

rma.jpg

The Malta badge is great. I really like the phrase: "May be hand bent in hot water." I wonder if that was a note for the Sergeant Major?

Pennants are a nice add to the thread as well. Thanks for posting.

[Jerry B]

The Malta badge is great. I really like the phrase: "May be hand bent in hot water." I wonder if that was a note for the Sergeant Major?

Pennants are a nice add to the thread as well. Thanks for posting.

Hi,

I am glad you did not mind my adding to your thread. The Malta is a great badge and the annotation on the reverse really adds to it, besides it being a rare badge.

The pennant is another of my favorites in my collection, if only it could tell its story.

[IrishGunner]

Jerry, you are free to add your images/pieces to any thread. I'll speak for the majority of members; we like having additional pieces added to on-going threads. It's great to compare even common pieces and it allows for addition of unusual pieces. It also keeps a more complete record of the topic. Post away!

[Martin W]

Good to see you here also Jerry.

Cheers,Martin.

[Jerry B]

A good pic of the RA Sgt's arm badge in wear. Looks to be for his wedding and on a 49 pattern BD blouse.

[badjez]

Plastic 'guns' are indeed a rarity. The large plastic RA gun was not however worn by the rank and file gunners who made up the majority of the artillerymen during WW2. The plastic 'gun' was worn only by those men of Royal Horse Artillery units who retained the 'peaked cap' as part of their uniform. The majority of artillerymen wore the plastic 'grenade' badge in their Field Service cap, General Service cap, or later, their beret. The plastic 'grenade' is almost identical in size as the pre-war collar badge but has blade fittings. A very small number of these plastic 'grenade' badges can be found with 'UBIQUE' replaced by the letters 'R.A.A.B.F.', having a brooch-pin fitting. These were fund raising items for the Royal Artillery Association Benevolent Fund.

Stephen.

[Odulf]

Two portraits of gunners of the Royal Canadian Artillery, in the Netherlands in 1945.

The first is named:

Gnr. J. Harvey A65778

83 Field Btr.

23 SP Regt. R.C.A.

Canadian Army Overseas

25 September 1945

The second:

Ben Webser

2ns Can.AGRA

(Nijmegen)

The 23rd Field Regt. RCA were self propelled howitzers and a supporting unit of the 4th Canadian Armd. Division.

Because of their armoured vehicles and serving with an armoured unit the berets were black, as for all British and Canadian armoured divisions.

The 2nd Canadian Army Group Artillery operated in The Netherlands, supporting the 2nd Canadian Army with heavy artillery.

As I was told by an Artillery veteran, personnel of heavy artillery units (up from 25 pdr. guns) wore the gun on their beret. Light artillery, ant-aircraft-artillery, surveyer units, etc. wore the grenade badge on their beret and field cap.

[Odulf]

Two gunners of the (British) Royal Artillery

The first portrait is dated 28 June 1940. The guy is wearing the 1937 pattern battle dress blouse, with collar badges (!), a metal shoulder title "RA", and a white lanyard from the right shoulder. The arms-of-service stripe is absent.

The other photo was made by a photographer in Hythe (Kent), showing the woolen service dress (with 4 pockets and brass buttons) with collar badges, brass "RA" titles and the white lanyard.

[IrishGunner]

Odulf, thanks for these photos. The info regarding who wore the gun and who wore the grenade on their beret is quite useful.

Do you know the meaning of the white lanyard?

[Odulf]

A bit faded, but that is not uncommon for a 110+ years old photo (postcard size)

Royal Artillery Militia men and an Engineer of the Militia.

The Gunners wear the full-dress tunic with nine buttons down the front of the blue coat. Their collar is in red, piped with yellow, while the coat is piped red. Austrian knots on the lower sleeves are in yellow as are the crossed-gun badges (for gunnery instructor), diamond and stars (efficiency badges for Militia).

The Engineer, standing left, wears a five buttons red coat with blue velvet facings and gold lace on his cuffs and elswhere, indicating he is a Sergeant. The grenade over his chevrons indicate he is an Engineer.

The picture was taken in the last decade of the 19th century, or a little later, because the reverse (address side) is undivided until 1902.

Edited December 10, 2014 by Odulf