Mystery Titles

[boots and saddles]

This was a mysrery to me for a long time but Mr Brooker gave me an answer which also created another question. He informed me that this was the first title of the Garrison Bn of WW2 which was short lived & never left Canada Bill A. knows about this. However as you can see this title as far as we know is a British made title,WHY would a local Unit send to Britain to have a title made when we were turning them out by the thousands right here, This one I've had for a long, long time & haven't seen another like it so our repro manufactures haven't got to this one yet. Can anyone out there give us more information on this one. Was there a First? I know there was a 1st & 2nd Garrison bn. the 1st only had a little over 200 personell while the 2nd only had a HDQTer's Co. when everything was disbanded. Bill can give you the low down on the Garrison Bn. better than I can. Ray

[Bill A]

This is the info that I sent Ray about this title:

The info that I gave you re dates of authorization etc came from “On Active Service” a cd rom that lists all of the units of the Canadian army, and the authorizations. As you can see these have the appropriate GO’s listed. Here are the serials for the Garrison Battalions and the Special Service Battalions.



1352 No. 1 Special Service Infantry Battalion

Authorized: GO 325/42 - Effective 15 Jun 42, Redesignated: GO 362/40 - Effective 15 Jun 42

Redesignated: Serial No. 1352 - 1st Garrison Battalion - GO 362/42 - Effective 15 Jun 42

1352 1st Garrison Battalion

Authorized: GO 362/42 - Effective 15 Jun 42, Allocated to the Canadian Infantry Corps as:

Serial No. 1352 - 1st Garrison Battalion, C.I.C. under GO 485/42 - Effective 3 Sep 42

1352 1st Garrison Battalion, C.I.C.

Authorized: GO 485/42 - Effective 3 Sep 42, Disbanded: GO 438/43 - Effective 15 Oct 43

1353 No. 2 Special Service Infantry Battalion

Authorized: GO 325/42 - Effective 15 Jun 42, Redesignated: GO 362/40 - Effective 15 Jun 42

Redesignated: Serial No. 1353 - 2nd Garrison Battalion - GO 362/42 - Effective 15 Jun 42

1353 2nd Garrison Battalion

Authorized: GO 362/42 - Effective 15 Jun 42, Allocated to the Canadian Infantry Corps as:

Serial No. 1353 - 2nd Garrison Battalion, C.I.C. under GO 485/42 - Effective 3 Sep 42

1353 2nd Garrison Battalion, C.I.C.

Authorized: GO 485/42 - Effective 3 Sep 42, Disbanded: GO 301/43 - Effective 1 May 43



I find the serials and authorizatons very useful when tracking down the appropriate designations for units and their formation or disbandment. The authorizations give the official designation of the unit, which is employed on many of the shoulder titles. From this it is possible to approximately date the issue and the length of time the title may have been in use.

As Ray indicates, the existence of this title is a bit of a puzzle. The title is not exactly as designated in the GO's, but there is no other unit that is remotely close in naming in the authorizations. In addition to Ray's example there are a few others around.

[boots and saddles]

Here is a badge I posted earlier and got no response,So we'll try again with a picture. It's a sunburst as you can see about 2 1/2 " in diameter, brass I believe, the center disc is about 1 1/16 ", no inscription. Could it be Irish or IRA. there is 5 short tangs on the back evenly spaced. Ray