Applicant Rejected pin

[Darrell]

Hi

A recent acquisition purported to be the first variety of pin given to Canadians in the SWW who were rejected for service. This would be before a more proper "Applicant for Enlistment" badge was authorized. The previous owner is looking for the early wartime newspaper article where this badge is described. 2.5cm across with metal ring and pin. Cellulose covered paper with a metal ring and pin. I am not sure at what level it was used.

According to VAC:

"...Although a Committee on War Service Badges had recommended on 27 October 1939 that two badges be established; a SERVICE badge for those voluntarily attested for active service beyond Canada and a RESERVE badge for those medically exempt (among other reasons); that recommendation was not acted upon. Instead, rejected applicants for service in the army were issued with form M.F.M. 12 (Militia Form M.12) - Certificate of Medical Unfitness for Service in the Canadian Active Service Force. This form did not satisfy the need for an easily identified indicator of exempt status however, and rejected applicants suffered in the eyes of the public as a result....

...The result of the demands and the meetings was the enactment, by Canada's Governor General, The Earl of Athlone, of Order in Council P.C. 7893 on Saturday, October 11, 1941, (retroactively effective September 1, 1939) to create a badge to identify the medically unfit volunteers and distinguish them from those who had not yet volunteered..."

https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remem...ons/details/34

What we know to be the "Applicant for Enlistment" badge was authorized by Order in Council P.C. 7893 on Saturday, October 11, 1941. The first public were released on 15 October, 1941 so this cellulose pin could be its predecessor. Hoping for that article.

Anyone else see one before or have thoughts on this?

regards
Darrell