Unknown badge and jacket

[zorgon]

A friend has recently come across this jacket. We're trying to identify both the significance of the patch and to date the Eisenhower jacket style/type or unit. The jacket colour is almost black but with a hint of dark blue. No clue as to what arm of the military if that is even the case. Nor can we ID the patch which is stitched onto the top of the left shoulder; a vertical stitched yellow bar on a rectangular melton green/olive drab background. The small, hand-made tag on the neck area gives no indication of country or manufacturer but perhaps British or Canadian. The tag is blurry and is a name (indistinguishable) and 4 digit number. No other visible tags.

Can anyone help? Than you in advance for your thoughts.

[Ian B]

Good day Z,

I'm not sure at all on the jacket. However, the patch looks an awful lot like the squadron identifying patch for Royal Military College (RMC) cadets in Kingston. The various sub-units at the College are called squadrons, each squadron having its own colour. The number of bars on the patch indicated the year the cadet is in. Years ago, I saw a chart with the colours of all the squadrons, but memory eludes me as where exactly. The squadrons are also given names of various well known figures from Canadian history. I have a second and third year patch for Frontenac Squadron (light French grey) in my collection.

Judging by the cut of the jacket, it looks WWII era (not sure if RMC was open during that time). Might have been used after the war. As I recall, the cadets wear a dark blue uniform at the college nowadays as their daily dress for classes.

Hope I'm not sending you on a wild goose chase, and this gives you a place to start.

Regards,

Ian B

[zorgon]

Hi Ian. Thanks for the great lead. I think you're right, the patch represents the one-year stripe for an RMC cadet.

I'll keep researching to try to determine which City location and "squadron" the background colour represents. I would guess, post 1948 when it was re-established after the war.