Canon and grenade

[chingoo]

Hi,

Sorry if this is a silly question, but can someone explain to me why some Royal Artillery wore the Canon and some wore the Grenade on their cap?

Ian

[Alan O]

All gunners wore the full sized Gun on the peaked cap before WW2 and to this day. Come the advent of the beret and the GS Cap, some units (but not all) decided to wear the smaller collar badge, the grenade, in their berets/hats as it was a better size. Post Ww2 the reduced size gun badge was introduced and the grenade was no longer worn by ORs.

The exception were the RHA some of whose regts decided to wear their collar badge, the cypher, pre WW2 and it was not fomrally adopted until later.

[chingoo]

Great help, thank you.

[chingoo]

Just as a quick follow up, if the Grenade was worn on the cap, what collar badges would be worn? Would it still be grenades?

[Alan O]

By the mid-war period the regulations had removed collars as an economy measure. This is not to say they they weren't worn as you may well find a photo of a gunner in 'best BD' with them on but that they were not supposed to be worn.