Royal Roads No 1 Squadron

[Bill A]

Picked up this patch on the weekend. Royal Roads was a Military College in Victoria BC from 1940 until 1995. Initially it was a naval college, and later a tri-service institution.
To issue, can someone give me the provenance for this patch?

[Wyn vdSchee]

Bill,
Not worn on any uniform order of dress. Probably worn on a civilian pattern jacket, either leather or melton. It is very difficult to identify its time period; these things came and went like mushrooms after a rainstorm.
However, it does sport a QC do it was after about 1953. Sorry, that does not narrow it down very much.
Wyn

[fred597]

MIGHT have been worn on a Flight Suit.

[Wyn vdSchee]

As a rule, officer cadets at Royal Roads (or RMC or CMR) did not wear flight suits during the college term. If they wore them during summer training, they would have air force related patches in them, not military collage related ones.
Wyn

[Victoria Edwards]

This Royal Roads #3 squadron patch circa 1987 belongs to my colleague.

[servicepub]

Originally Posted by Victoria Edwards

This Royal Roads #3 squadron patch circa 1987 belongs to my colleague.

So, when was it worn, on what order of dress and what does it represent?

[Victoria Edwards]

I recall that the #3 squadron patch was just in a bag, as opposed to sewn on any of my colleague's RRMC uniforms (battle blouse, scarlets, sixs). I'll ask my colleague on Monday about the patch and report back.

According to Preston's Canada's RMC: A History of the Royal Military College, Cadets at the Royal Military College of Canada were divided into battalions (1874-1942). The cadet battalions were under the command and supervision of senior cadets led by: a Batallion Sergeant Major (BSM) (1878-1923); Senior Under Officer (SUO) (1924-33) and by a Batallion Sergeant Major (BSM) (1934-42).

After 1952, cadets at the Canadian military colleges were divided into Wing Squadrons, divided into flights and sections, under the command and supervision of senior cadets who were led by a Cadet Wing Commander (CWC).

At RMC, the squadrons, of approx 70 cadets each, are named after historical figures, and associated with dormitories. For example 1 Squadron, associated with the Stone Frigate dormitory, honours Henry Hudson. The Squadrons at RMC for cadets include Hudson, La Salle, Pontiac, Frontenac, Brock, Wolfe, Mackenzie, Vercheres, Montcalme, Cartier/Tecumseh, Fraser, Joliet while Otter squadon is for the university training plan non commissioned members. During the annual obstacle course and intramural competitions, cadets and UTPNCM compete by Squadron. Squadrons have their own traditions and sources of pride. It is common for one Squadron to perform skylarks (practical jokes) on other Squadron(s) and/or to claim credit for skylarks using squadron colours and/or representations of squadron mascots.

At RMC Saint-Jean, (former College Militaire Royal Saint-Jean) the 3 squadrons were initially named for historical figures but were renamed to honour local communities: Cartier/Iberville; Maisonneuve/Richelieu; Champlain/Tracy.

[Victoria Edwards]

Hi all,

My colleague was able to answer the questions with a little help from his yearbook from Royal Roads.

At Royal Roads, c. 1983-7, there were three cadet squadrons named 1, 2 and 3 while 4 squadron was for members of the University Training Plan non-commissioned members. At the time, cadets from squadrons 1 & 2 were in programs requiring them to spend a couple years at Roads prior to graduating from RMC, while the cadets from squadron 3 were in programs allowing them to stay at Royal Roads e.g. (oceanography etc).

Although the Royal Roads squadrons weren`t named, they were represented by the colours and symbols on the patches worn on the sleeves of the work dress.

Each squadron was divided into flights, which were named after historical figures (explorers). Squadron 1 had (Jacques) Cartier & (Simon) Fraser flights. Squadron 2 had (Samuel de) Champlain & (Alexander) Mackenzie flights. Squadron 3 had (Henry) Hudson and (Sieur de) Lasalle flights.

The cadets competed by squadron in obstacle courses, drill competitions, intramurals (golf, broomball, waterpolo, ball hockey, soccer, wrestling, X country) etc. As cadets left Royal Roads for RMC (or CMR), the remaining cadets joined Squadron 3.

[JamesAA]

Hi Folks,

I am a new member of this forum and have been quietly monitoring posts until I had something useful to say.

I notice that this older thread did not answer the question concerning what uniform these patches were worn on. I attended Royal Roads for two years (78 and 79) and when I read these messages could not recall in the interim 30+ years every wearing these badges. However, some of my reference material helped refresh my memory.

My 1979 copy of the Royal Roads Cadet Wing Instructions (CADWINS), in the section on Year and Squadron Insignia states: "No. 9 - Squadron crest above left breast pocket." No. 9 order of dress was not a unique college uniform - it was the CF issued Work Dress (rifle green) that was a college order of dress for fatigues, drill and exercises. Work dress is no longer a CF issued uniform.

My yearbooks have photos clearly showing the squadron crests above the nametag above the right breast pocket on the work dress uniform.

Therefore, it is safe to say that these squadron patches were issued by Royal Roads and sewn on the No. 9 order of dress. Yearbook photos confirm it was worn above the right breast pocket and I can only assume that CADWINs states above left breast pocket in error.

Hope this helps,
Jim

[Gino]

Royal Roads Fraser Flight 81-85. I think I still have one of those badges lying in storage somewhere. I had forgotten that they were sewn on the green work dress jacket, but we wore those so infrequently that it doesn't surprise me. Also, naval cadets would have replaced them with ship's badges after their first summer of naval training. I don't really recall the symbol on the badge being used for any other purpose.

For Victoria, there was definitely no process whereby cadets were divided up into squadrons by degree programme. In my first year it was done randomly and after that mainly alphabetically. Most cadets didn't decide if they wanted to stay at RR until sometime in 2nd year anyway. Also, intramurals were one area where cadets competed by flight and not by squadron.