G'day,

Can anyone identify these items?
1.

And a close up of the badge:
2.

3.

And a close up of the badge:
4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

Thanks,
Chas

Hi Chas,
The first and second image are the cap badge of the Hampshire Regiment of the british army,they are the pre-1946 version as they do not carry the king/queens crown on the top of the reef.They are the Bi-matal version.

I would be interested to know what the embroidered one is,my guess is its an officers cap and badge.

Steve

CB apprentice (E-2) stripes from either dress or undress blues, and pea-coat.

1st Class PO (E-6) for dress and undress whites. I believe the strikers badge is for electronic weapons.
For E-4 and E-5 we would simply cut off the unneeded stripes.

Now THIS is very interesting. This is a 1940 issued armband from the Local Defence Volunteers who were founded on 14 May 1940. , whose name was changed to the 'Home Guard' in July 1940.

Here's everything you need to know:

http://www.home-guard.org.uk/

The ninth one from the top is a U.S. Army Specialist 5 rank badge for the female class A uniform. Specialist 5 rank was phased outy in the early '80s.

Looks like one of the trinkets we would pick up at the ship store to give to one of the girls in every port to express our ever lasting love, at least for that in-port period.

This is a US Army Class-A rank insignia for Private E-2 aka "Mosquito Wings". Appears to be for the female uniform. It's also upside down. Chevrons in the US Army & USMC point up, opposite of the British Army.

Jim

Thanks everyone so far.



Dave, could you elaborate a bit more. What is a CB, PO and strikers badge? Am I right that 'E' stands for ensign?

Jim Rae, thanks to you and your info, this has become a very inter sting and valued part of my collection (otherwise I wouldn't know what the hell it was!)



Thanks, I guess this would have gone with the US Army Class-A rank insignia for Private E-2 aka "Mosquito Wings", as pointed out by James?

Thanks James, and sorry for photographing it upside down. I really don't know much about military forces other than Japanese, Australian and PTO British.

In US naval terms a CB is a member of the Construction Battalions, a PO a Petty Officer, and E is a paygrade for enlisted men (O being officers grade).

Per Wiki: "Sailors who have gone directly to a base, station, or ship without any specialized training are eligible to select a career field, and through correspondence courses and extensive on-the-job training, may qualify for a rating. This process is called "striking for a rate." If an enlisted member has qualified for a rate, but has not yet become a petty officer, he is called a designated striker, and is identified by a striker's badge that displays the sailor's rating, along with his group rate marks."

Rudi

p.s. Google is your friend

Thanks Rudi.

Google also makes me work, call me lazy, but I'm doing a heck of a lot of that already. I thought I would give someone else's brain a workout, if you don't mind.

So, if the 1st Class PO (E-6) badge belonged to a Petty Officer, why is he designated as a striker? I thought only ratings who had not yet become petty officers were designated strikers, and identified by a striker's badge.

Of course there IS another possibility. It could be Australian in origin - an Australian equivalent to the (British) Home Guard. Perhaps something like the 'Coast-Watchers' but created in case of invasion? Worth checking THAT line of enquiry as an LDV armband does seem unusual kind of thing to turn up in Australia?

Who knows, there maybe WAS an Ozzie Home Guard?

G'day Jim,

Nah that's not likely. All this stuff was sent to me by a family member in the UK.

It was a thoughtful suggestion, thanks once again.

Chas

This is the striker badge. On the PO insignia it is a permanent part of the embroidery. For E-1-E-3 you bought a small version that contained just the strikers badge, and it was sewn above your E-1 to E-3 stripes. (all e-1 to E-3 stripes came as E-3 stripes (meaning 3 stripes) and you cut off the unneeded ones before sewing onto your uniform.) Once you made PO, your strikers badge was now embroidered directly onto your "crow" which came in one size, E-6 or First Class Petty Officer, and you would cut off the unneeded chevrons for your proper rank, E-4or E-5. But when you bought your crows, you ordered them with you designed rating. striker's badge and rating badge are/mean the same thing and showed others your job. Strikers/rating= JOB.... Rank = Pay Grade.

For dungaree use, the E-1 to E-3 worn no rank insignia on their dungaree shirts. PO's wore either a stencil type crow or and "iron on" crow, cut down according to their rank, and had no striker/rating badge.

For Baseball caps, a metal cap device type crow could be purchased, again it came in one size, and was an E-6 crow, and you would remove the unneeded chevrons before placing it on your ball cap.

I'm off to work now, I'll give a little in-site when I get home as to what sailors actually worn verses what books and regulations suggest.

Thanks for all the info Dave, very interesting.

Can you tell me the approx. year this badge was in service, or is that an impossible guess?

Chas

I don't know Chas,
I'll have to post the question on the "old fart sailor site" and wait for an answer.
Since my discharge, many of the ratings that were used have either merged into other ratings with one or the others badge being used, or "closed" meaning no new replacements and as guys retired the rating slowly disappeared.
Being one of the tech-no geek ratings it's possible it's still going though, or was born out of necessities.

Thanks for doing this Dave, I'll be interested to hear what the old farts think.

So can anyone identify images 3,6 or 10?

Chas

Direct from the Old Farts Sailor site:
"It is Nuclear Weaponsman, This is the first rating badge worn by that rating. At some point, the rating badge changed to this one:



which was later worn by WT (Weapons Technician).

This website has them for sale, along with hundreds of old badges from all ratings: http://shop.vendio.com/himself/item/555327572/index.html

Here's their description of this badge:



This piece is the 'Thin Bomb' variation. This is one of the 5 ratings that when on foreign soil actually wore the uniform of a Yeoman for security purposes. This is rare. This rating existed from 1957 to 1961.


The badge in the OP is the "Fat bomb" variation.


Hope that helps.

Awesome thanks for that info.

I've also got this one, I had a quick look through the website but couldn't find it.

Does anyone recognise it, or is it another for the old farts?

Chas

(This is a much better image cos I just remembered I could scan these badges, stupid me!)

Here you go.
From Grumpy's link:
http://shop.vendio.com/himself/item/555323922/index.html

Thanks mate.

A prize to anyone who can identify images 3, 6 or 10!!

Friendly bump

Specialist 5 rank. Also female size. I hated that series of rank. They got the same pay as us NCO's, but had none of the responsiblities. "Q"

Numvber 10 is the insignia of an RAF Leading Aircraftman / Woman. Originally a trade badge it was later made into an NCO rank - approximate to a Lance-Corporal.

Thanks very much Dave and Matt,

That leaves just item # 3 and 6 (unless it's just a trinket as Grumpy says) to be identified.

Chas