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Cavalry/Armoured Regiments Sergeants in cavalry (and later, armoured) units of the
British Army adopted a practice of placing a cap or collar badge directly overtop of the
the chevrons located on the right sleeve of the uniform jacket (or Battle Dress Blouse).
Canadian soldiers appear to have eagerly picked up this dress distinction in the
Second World War. The practice seems to have died out after the Second World War.
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Photos here, courtesy Ed Storey, show NCOs of the Royal
Canadian Dragoons. Photo at left shows a Staff Sergeant of the RCD showing
the cap badge worn on the right sleeve chevrons. Both photos are from 1955.
Man at left of far
right photo wears cloth WO II rank badges, with a metal cap badge
on the right sleeve. Man at far right has metal WO II rank badges on his battledress as
well as the regimental cap badge below.
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Armoured Corps
Substantive Rank
John Nayduk passes on the following
information and photo:
I’d like to add if I might. On the NCO Corps badges page, you
show a few RCD NCOs wearing a mini badge over their stripes or
under the WO II or WO I rank badges. The Windsor Regiment did
this as well with a mini WW1 tank. This showed that the wearer
had substantive rank as opposed to acting rank. I’ve attached a
photo showing a couple of WO IIs and the RSM wearing the tank
badge under their rank badges on their right sleeves.
Warrant Officers of The Windsor Regiment (R.C.A.C.)
in the post-war Canadian Army, wearing a metal badge in the shape of a
First World War tank on the right sleeve, underneath the appointment
badges on their battle dress (also in metal). Note the coloured unit
lanyards, and, per custom in the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps, black
web belts. The web anklets of worn during the war were dispensed with
after the war in favour of cloth puttees. The newly minted Canadian
Forces Decoration can be seen on the two Warrant Officers Class II. |
| Royal Canadian Corps of Signals Jon Skagfeld passes on info that by 1958, Sergeants in the Royal
Canadian Corps of Signals were wearing a metal "Jimmy" (the nickname given to
the figure of Mercury on the corps cap badge) over their chevrons. In approximately
1960, a cloth version of "Jimmy" was used to replace the metal badge.
(Photo at right courtesy Michael Johnson).
Mercury was, of course, the Messenger of the
Gods. |
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| NCO Instructors The following information comes from Doug Townend;
Many of the Canadian Army schools of instruction in the 1950s
and 60s created instructor badges for wear by the NCO instructors. Officers did not wear
them. These badges were in addition to the Army Assistant Instructor trade badge -
Letters A I with either the Trade Group 3 crown above or the Trade Group 4 Crown above and
partial wreath below. This trade badge was worn on the left forearm of the uniform. Only a
few of the establishment positions of the School organization would have been annotated
for the AI qualification. |
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Royal Canadian Armoured Corps School -
wore a brass outline of the Centurion tank, locally made, above the rank badge on both
arms, including WOs II.
Royal Canadian Army Service Corps School wore a
winged wheel, steering wheel with horizontal wing on each side, in brass or white metal.
Royal Canadian Infantry Corps School wore a
white metal maple leaf with a vertical bayonet, tip pointing upward, just as is worn
today.
Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps School wore the shield,
in white metal, from the Corps cap badge on the lower right sleeve above the trade badge.
To date these are the only schools for which Instructor
Badges have been positively identified.
Post Unification
Corps badges fell into use as the corps
involved were replaced, though the Master Gunner badge continued in use
with the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery. |
