1st canadian

[Seker81]

I bought a small item related to the battles that the Canadian army waged in Belgium during World War II. I am trying to find out in which unit it was worn, please help.

[Bill A]

Hello Seker81, welcome to the Forum. Your account is active and open for posts.

[Bill A]

The title you have imaged is for the 1st Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force, First World War.

[Seker81]

Why i can’t find any foto with 1st? Got only CANADA

[peter monahan]

The battalion was created on 2 September 1914 with recruits from "Military District 1" which was Western Ontario.. They arrived in England on 14 October 1914 with a strength of 45 officers and 1121 men. The battalion became part of the 1st Canadian Division, 1st Canadian Infantry Brigade where it saw action at Ypres and along the Western Front.
The 1st Canadian Infantry Battalion is currently perpetuated by The Royal Canadian Regiment.

[Bill A]

I have no idea why you can't find an image. There are many images of the 1st Battalion, but images of the shoulder badge in wear are few and far between. It is a variation not commonly seen.

[Seker81]

It is because it is so rare that as long as there are no photos, I want to create them wherever I can. possibly give it to some museum. I found this at a museum in Ardennes that sells this stuff.

[Bill A]

Photo evidence is scarce because there were not that many images being taken of the details of the Canadian uniforms at that time.
Why would a museum be selling historical artifacts? Is it outside of their mandate?

[Seker81]

then I invite you to Belgium. here you can buy various things, especially in Ardennes. accessories, decorations etc.
a small example (I haven't had time to take pictures of mine yet)
cost 50Eur

[leigh kitchen]

My admittedly limited and no longer recent experience of WWI and WWII military museums in France and Belgium is that yes, they sold / sell surplus items as a matter of course, badges, helmets, firearms etc.
I would think they used to be spoilt for choice when it came to the quantity of such items available.
I did note some years back that many of the items were being acquired simply for resale, rusted German steel helmets repaired and repainted, fake / repro British army cap badges, anodised aluminium cap badges.

[Seker81]

if you know where and from whom you can buy something, you can.
For now, I do not know what I am collecting, I have a bit of everything, but I started to understand where, what and how

[NFLDREGT]

Hi

Welcome to the forum. These 1ST CANADIAN titles, while not common, are easily available to CEF collectors in Canada. I see them at the militaria shows here in Canada occasionally. The more standard shoulder title worn by the CEF are variations of just CANADA.

I collect Newfoundland military and police items. There is a brass 1ST/NFLD title that was worn by the battalion early in the war which is harder to come by than the standard NFLD title worn throughout most of the war. Much harder to find pics of the guys wearing the 1st/NFLD title just due to numbers. The 1ST/NFLD turns up occasionally just like the 1ST/CANADIANS.

The really rare CEF titles are the cloth ones.

Don