This title which has been around for years has never been satisfactorily identified. No one has been able to establish if an RASC unit of any sort was ever based on the island and no worn examples have been recorded. This extract from my book Badges on Battle Dress explains some likely background to this badge.
On several occasions soldiers from the Channel Islands, where the National Service Act did not apply, sought permission to wear an arm title indicating that they were volunteers. In June 1955 the Greenjackets Depot asked if recruits from the Channel Islands enlisting as Greenjackets Regulars be permitted a ‘Jersey’ or ‘Guernsey’ titles but it was not permitted. After a letter to Soldier magazine reported seeing a soldier wearing ‘Jersey’ Soldier replied that ‘Flashes showing the country of origin are no longer allowed’. Six years later a volunteer who was born and joined up in Guernsey told Soldier he put a ‘Guernsey’ flash on his uniform but was told to take it down . ‘The flash may have ceased to be a quartermaster’s issue’ he wrote ‘but it is still possible to buy it from any shop’ . The easy availability of unofficial Channel Islander flashes may account for the long-unexplained ‘Guernsey C.I/RASC’ and for a similar ‘Channel Islands’ title.
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