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#1
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SA Naval ForcesLieut Should board insignia
Never seen this before, so thought I would ask- seen these SA Navy shoulder boards on a site recently - I have never seen coloured cloth behind the buttons in the past - what does this signify?
I know Medical Officers (Doctors, Surgeons) had red cloth between the gold lace, could this be a variant ? Thanks, Bryan Last edited by RCN; 30-04-17 at 05:28 PM. |
#2
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Bryan,
The orange cloth denotes that they were South African. I have seen many variations of the shade of orange so would suggest that they are both just SAN. Regards fred |
#3
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Quote:
The orange flash was more than just an indicator of nationality. It meant that the wearer had attested for service "anywhere in Africa" (1940-43) or "anywhere in the world" (1943-45). As the Union Defence Forces were restricted by law to operating in southern Africa, this voluntary attestation was the only way in which its personnel and units could be deployed farther afield.
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Regards Arthur |
#4
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THANKS Fred & Arthur,
I did not know about the orange triangles being worn by the SA Forces, but I do have to admit that my knowledge of the SA Navy is not very good, but its good to learn something new! I did note on the two shoulder boards, one button has SA on either side of the anchor but the other has no lettering. & on the second pair no lettering on either button. Any reason for this? Bryan |
#5
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The official button from 1939 to 1942 was the crowned anchor. The letters SA were added in 1942, around the time that the Seaward Defence Force was renamed 'SA Naval Forces'. Perhaps the officer originally had the pre-1942 button on both, and later had to replace one of them.
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Regards Arthur |
#6
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Nice shoulder straps, not that common and used from 1940-1950. Buttons for the SANF and its predecessors were in short supply and it's doubtful whether many of them were even used during the war, although they were sealed, I believe. Standard RN buttons were often just used as an alternate.
Cheers, Alex |
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