British Empire Service League SWW

[Bill A]

During the Second WW, the Canadian forces had "special services" provide recreational and social services for the their personnel. The British Empire Service League, which was to become the Royal Canadian Legion, was one of the organizations. They wore a cap badge common to their serive and to the service organization.
An interesting image of Lamont Findlay, a BESL member of the auxiliary services. https://familysearch.org/photos/images/1665663

[cefguy]

Bill:
Great photo and an interesting cap badge. I saw on Wikipedia that they had a good summary of the dates of the progressive name change for what we now know as the Legion.....

"In November 1925, the Canadian Legion was founded in Winnipeg, Manitoba, as the Canadian Legion of the British Empire Services League. The Canadian Legion of the British Empire Services League was incorporated by a special act of parliament the following year.[1] The Legion grew steadily through the 1930s and then expanded rapidly following World War II.[2] In 1960, Elizabeth II granted The Legion royal patronage and it became The Royal Canadian Legion.[1]"

I have held this cap badge for a while never quite sure where it fit in to the sequence. It is a nicely made one from Skully on a silver star burst. I always thought of it as a post WW1 patriotic badge, but it might have been a WWII service badge similar to the one in your photo, In any event here it is.
Don

BESL Cap front.jpg

[Artynut]

I have a cloth badge of the centre of the badge above in previous post. I also have these and question where they fit in. Black bordered one is 2&5/8'' dia. Coloured one is 4&I/16'' dia. Brass is marked Scully Montreal.

[121155]

These are the cap badges in my collection.

[Ian B]

The eight point star in post #2 looks an awful like the white metal portion of an RCR hat badge. I have a Scully marked RCR hat badge with brooch pin in my collection. The only difference is that instead of N-S holes to attach the BESL portion, mine has E-W slots to attach the brass disc, cypher and crown. Otherwise, mine's the spit'n' image of the one above.

Ian

[Bill A]

Artynut, the patches you have posted are for, as they say, the Army Navy Airforce Vets in Canada. It was a completely separate organization, and iirc, they were not associated with the BESL or RCL.
Don, that is one unusual badge. I haven't any idea what it is, but like Ian says it appears to be based on an RCR back plate.

[cefguy]

Bill and All:
Yes I agree it is very much that same silver star used by the RCR and a few of the purely CEF battalions for some of their badges. Beyond that it remains a mystery to me. Somewhere there has to be a picture of someone wearing it.
Cheers
Don