Oak Leaf Shoulder Badges

When Battle Honours for the First World War were being considered in the 1920s, the units that perpetuated the 10th and 16th Battalions of the CEF were perturbed that they did not receive recognition for the Battle of Kitcheners Wood.  That battle had marked the first offensive action taken by Canadian soldiers in the First World War, and was later described by Marshall Foch as "the finest act in the War."  The commanding officers of the three regiments (The Canadian Scottish Regiment, The Calgary Highlanders, and The Winnipeg Light Infantry) petitioned Ottawa, and gained the support of many prominent individuals such as Sir Arthur Currie.  The Adjutant General proposed that a distinction in dress be awarded in lieu of a battle honour.

In June 1926, it was suggested that one or more oak leaves on a blood red background be adopted as a collar badge, as Kitcheners' Wood had been an oak plantation.   The Calgary Highlanders preferred a badge be worn on the lower sleeve while the WLI preferred an upper sleeve badge.  All three agreed that an acorn and oak leaf design was desirable.  The Adjutant General agreed that a collar badge depicting a single acorn and oak leaf was acceptable, and could be worn in conjunction with existing collar badges, as precedence for double collar badges had been set in the British Army by the Seaforth Highlanders and the Royal Irish Fusiliers.

In 1930, the Adjutant General's office proposed that the collar badges of the individual units be set upon a bronze oak leaf.  This idea was rejected, and in 1933 a metal shoulder badge was agreed upon.  The Calgary Highlanders and Canadian Scottish wanted the full name of the regiment to be part of the design, while the WLI wanted only their initials.

General Orders in 1934 granted authority for the Calgary Highlanders and Canadian Scottish to wear bronze oak leaf and acorn badges with their names inscribed on an annulus.  The WLI were to wear a badge consisting of the oak leaf and acorn with the initials on the regiment superimposed.

When the badges were presented in 1938, the Calgary Highlanders' design had again changed to one resembling the WLI, being a brass oak leaf with the letters CH superimposed.   It is not clear why the change was made.

The metal shoulder titles were to be worn on Service Dress and Full Dress.   With the advent of Battle Dress in 1939, the regiments took to wearing the new badges with the new uniform.  The practice was short lived.  The Canadian Scottish only permitted the First Battalion to wear the badge.  For Battle Dress, a cloth shoulder title incorporating the oak leaf into the design was instituted.   Officers in the Second World War continued to wear Service Dress, and officers of the three regiments continued to wear the oak leaf when in that uniform.  When midway through the war it was decided that unit shoulder titles were a drain on resources, and ordered all officers to wear the plain CANADA title in brass, the CO of the First Battalion, Canadian Scottish Regiment, refused.  He was told that he would be sent to Canada if he persisted, but he advised his officers to retain the prized oak leaf badges, and the matter was quietly dropped.

With the introduction of the DEU in the late 1980s, the epaulettes of the new uniform meant a return to the metal oak leaves when in parade dress. At right, two styles of Canadian Scottish shoulder titles adopted by the First Battalion during the Second World War.  The upper badge is a cotton printed example (also referred to by collectors as "canvas") and the lower title is an embroidered sample. The Second Battalion's shoulder title did not incorporate the oak leaf design, and was simply a red arc with the words CANADIAN SCOTTISH in blue.  Below these are the approved version of the metal oak leaf.  Because of its size it was sometimes referred to as a "soup plate" by members of the regiment.  All oak leaf badges worn by the Canadian Scottish had the oak leaf on the left; they were not issued in right and left pairs.
The WLI and Calgary Highlanders oak leaf badges were both  issued in right and left pairs.	When the Canadian Scottish Regiment added the suffix "Princess Mary's" to their name, they also adopted the cloth shoulder title shown here.   Like the wartime title, it was in red with blue lettering, with the acorn and oakleaf in natural colours.
The Calgary Highlanders adopted these titles for wear on the new CF uniforms in the early 1970s.  They were worn, like the metal badges, with the acorns facing the wearer's front.

United States Distinguished Unit Citation

In March of 1951, the United Nations forces in Korea again took the offensive, inspiring a Chinese counter-offensive.   The 29th British Brigade deployed in the hills south of the Imjin River and on 22 April 1951, the Chinese attacked.  A platoon of the Gloucestershire Regiment killed 100 Chinese as they made four attempts to cross the Imjin in front of his positions; not a single Gloster was lost.  Hard fighting went on between the other two battalions of the brigade.   The Chinese regrouped, and now came at the Glosters with at least a thousand men.  Using a crossing unknown to the Glosters, the Chinese surrounded the British battalion.  A Company took severe casualties while B Company killed 100 more Chinese without losing a man.  A counterattack by Lieutenant Curtis' platoon failed to throw the Chinese off of a dominating position, but Curtis was later awarded the Victoria Cross - posthumously.  Chinese attacks went on into the 24th, and the Glosters contracted their line from almost four miles to only 600 yards of frontage.   As the rest of the 29th Brigade made good their withdrawal after fierce fighting, the Glosters had no way of retreating.   By morning of the 25th, the CO gave permission for men to try and break out through the Chinese encirclement. Some 400 Glosters were captured, and only two full platoons made it back to safety.  The Gloucestershires have born many nicknames over the years; The Old Braggs, The Slashers, Fore and Aft, The Back Numbers, and The Silver Tailed Dandies, but the nickname earned on the Imjin is perhaps the most flattering: The Glorious Glosters.

The Second Battalion of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, serving at the time with the 27th Brigade, was also in action on the 22nd of April.  When the front collapsed under the weight of Chinese assaults, the PPCLI and the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment were ordered to hold the escape route of the withdrawing Allied forces.  The Chinese attacked the RAR on the 23rd, and after holding out as long as possible, the RAR were ordered to withdraw.  The PPCLI, in positions near the village of Kapyong, was next subjected to multiple assaults by a Chinese force nine times their number.  One section was overrun early on, but the position was retaken.  A second Chinese attack in battalion strength was beaten off, but managed to overrun two more sections.  More attacks were stopped by mortar fire and concentrated .50 calibre fire.  At one point one company commander called down friendly artillery fire on top of his own position, and by morning  the remaining Chinese had melted away.  The Patricias' casualties had been light; especially compared to the Glosters, only losing 33 men.