WW2 color patch ID help on slouch hat

[Jackhr]

Hello all
can some one ID this patch and also tell what does the grey underneath mean? Also what date period would this been used in?

Thanks in advance

[Mike Jackson]

Without the grey (2 AIF) border it would be 17th Australian Garrison Battalion - World War 2. But would a Garrison Battalion have "gone AIF"? Mike

[Jackhr]

Originally Posted by Mike Jackson

Without the grey (2 AIF) border it would be 17th Australian Garrison Battalion - World War 2. But would a Garrison Battalion have "gone AIF"? Mike

I was told the grey meant ,that the wearer did O/S service at some time before coming to the Garrison Bn?? But as I'm not up to speed on WW2 color patches I thought it was best to get some opinions .

[fairlie63]

Jackhr

If the wearer had a grey background on his colour patch then he was a current member of the AIF.

The collector's fallacy that when a unit of the Active CMF was redesignated (AIF) it put the unit colour patch on a grey background is exactly that - a fallacy. When a unit of the Active CMF was reclassified (AIF), 75% or more of its members were already wearing grey backgrounds on their colour patches, signifying their individual status as volunteers for unrestricted service outside Australia and its territories. The other members of the unit who had chosen not to volunteer for the AIF continued to wear the unit colour patch without the grey background.

The 17th Garrison Battalion had this colour patch from 1942, became Tatura Internment Group in 1944 until 1947, quite probable for AIF personnel to be posted to it, particularly in the latter stages.

Even AIF personnel posted to VDC battalion or group staffs were permitted to wear the VDC patch on a grey background.

Keith