Diamond Patches at HMCS Cornwallis

[Gino]

I've seen photos of sailors doing basic training at HMCS Cornwallis and they have diamond patches sewn on the upper sleeves of their jumpers. Were they to show which new entry division you were in or did they have some other significance? Which colours were used, and were they on both jumper sleeves?

[RCN]

The coloured diamond patches worn by New Entries at HMCS Cornwallis varied in colors & each Division had a different colour(s) combination or a different pattern.

I was in Skeena Division & our colours were red & blue. As I recall the Division beside us was Kootenay & their colour was red.. Another Division did not use colours but rather a piece of mattress cloth! & unfortunately I cannot recall which Division - too long ago - over 50 yrs now!
Later, in the mid 1960's, the colours were shown on the bow of the Cornwallis cap ribbon so the bow itself might be blue & the band in the centre around the bow might be red.
I have no idea how many combinations there might have been, but I do know that when I was there was 4 companies & around 8-10 Divisions in each Company, so quite a few combinations possible.

RCN Bryan

[QSAMIKE]

Good Morning Gino.....

When I joined up in the distant past we had the diamond shaped patches on our uniforms.... This was changed to the bow of the cap tally..... In fact I still have my original somewhere.....

My patch was Red over Green, signifying Restigouche Division 1 of 19??????

If my memory of over 50 years ago the solid green was Saskatchewan Division, the solid White was Yukon Division.....

There were solid Red, Blue and divided Red and Blue and Dark Blue over White.....

Maybe some of the other Cornwallis alumni can help by remembering their division.....

Mike

Originally Posted by Gino

I've seen photos of sailors doing basic training at HMCS Cornwallis and they have diamond patches sewn on the upper sleeves of their jumpers. Were they to show which new entry division you were in or did they have some other significance? Which colours were used, and were they on both jumper sleeves?

[RCN]

Amazed that you recall that many Mike!

I just recall the sea of black cap at Divisions, with the Duty Guard (which was just about to "passout") & the band in white caps - that was a sight to see - the old RCN on parade!

B

[Gino]

Very interesting. That would most likely be the origin of the trade patch diamonds that we wore as sea cadets at HMCS Quadra. We wore patches on each upper sleeve of our work shirts and jackets and on the right sleeve of our gunshirts. Some of the colours I can remember:

Staff Cadets - orange
Practical Leadership - yellow
Marine Engineer - purple
Boatswain - light blue
Operations/Communications - dark blue
Scuba - grey
Band - light green
Cook- brown