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Old 27-01-19, 05:51 PM
Force136 Force136 is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 95
Default Berets

It would be nice for someone to keep track of these berets to see how many of them are out there. There have been at least two included in veterans groupings. Both later revealed as not actually coming with those collections but added later.

What is the mystery of the Grand Mere berets is the fact that they were being sold in Toronto at a surplus store on Young Street back when I was a kid. That would be in the 1979-80 time period. They were sold in huge bins with other 1945 dated khaki and black berets. Back then, yes even in the late 70's early 80's, these things were not very valuable about 5$ each. At least that is what the surplus store wanted. Obviously there were far fewer maroon than khaki. But they sold very quickly.

There is documentation at the LAC in Ottawa referring to beret manufacturers RELINING and RESIZING berets in order to use existing stock to fill demand for certain sizes. So this is not an unusual practice for a manufacturer.

Also, there is little to NO specific documentation on maroon beret manufacture. The numbers required were insignificant and I suppose did not warrant as close scrutiny as the tens of thousands of khaki berets. In fact orders were originally quite small. So one has to wonder if they made the berets from scratch or somehow converted existing examples? I am referring specifically to Grand Mere.

Taking the information provided by Coogan, I have also heard that the fellows that created the "3rd Canadian Parachute Battalion" demonstration team back then had berets converted from khaki to maroon. But I have not been able to contact anyone to corroborate that claim. I have also been told that they may have been responsible for the manufacture of some of the examples of the Officers cap badge in white metal and brass?

This is just another one of those mysteries. I included this beret in my book because the beret in question was part of a veterans lot. It was only later I was told by another collector the real story behind the lot. It questioned whether the beret actually came with the other items in the veterans memorabilia. However since examples of Grand Mere Maroon berets were being sold as surplus as far back as the 70's it's not beyond the realm of possibility that a vet acquired one for reunions.

This sparks memories of my early days of collecting as I distinctly recall the first maroon beret from a vet that I ever saw. I was about 11 years old and my mentor Rick Davies acquired the items of a man named Brisbois who was from our area (Oshawa) who was with 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion. It was the first para helmet, beret, smock, plastic cap badge, printed shoulder titles, pegasus patches etc I ever saw from a vet of the 1CPB. I can still smell the must coming from the inside of the helmet with the original camo net and hessian strips. I can still recall Rick telling me how "fragile" the cap badges were. I was in awe as I had just seen the movie A BRIDGE TOO FAR at the theater (1977) where my brothers friends snuck me in as it was restricted.

Anyway I distinctly remember it being a Grand Mere beret because of the bright yellow stamp. But again, did Brisbois wear it during the war or acquire it later? I distinctly recall the plastic cap badge was not on the beret. Anyway it was odd because it turned out that one of my mothers best friends at that time was this mans daughter. The helmet sold for a wapping 40$ which I could not afford at the time because my father would not loan me the money. I had to wait until I got my lawn mowing money and by that time it was gone. The other stuff was sold together as a lot and I have no clue what happened to it.

All I know is that these Grand Mere Maroon berets, good or bad, have been around for some time. They existed when even 1945 dated maroon berets were only fetching 20-25$ among collectors. So, if bogus, I doubt they were made for someone to get rich off of. This is why I suspect there is some other reason they exist.
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