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Old 31-12-20, 11:42 AM
REME 245 REME 245 is offline
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Default WW2 Army Divers Trade Badges

Something which has been discussed before without the production of any photograghic evidence. I have been looking through a lot of Army Diver photograghs recently on the IWM Web site dating back to WW1 trying to spot any Naval pattern trade badges being worn. This is what most people seem to presumed were in use prior to the pattern badges introduced during the 1980's.

Has anyone else found any photogragic evidence since this subject was last discussed?
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Old 31-12-20, 11:55 AM
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Not sure if this has been shown previously but clear evidence of the RN badge being worn by a Sapper in Germany in 1945.

Jon
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File Type: jpg RN Diver's badge on RE Germany 1945 JM.jpg (31.4 KB, 81 views)
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Old 31-12-20, 12:12 PM
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Great picture.
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Old 31-12-20, 01:02 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Postwarden View Post
Not sure if this has been shown previously but clear evidence of the RN badge being worn by a Sapper in Germany in 1945.

Jon
Very Interesting.

Are there any other RN badges worn in the Army besides Diver and DEMS that anyone knows of?

regards
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Old 31-12-20, 03:59 PM
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The photo is great evidence that RN badges were worn by Army personal.
As a RE collector should I now be looking for RN trade badges worn by RE personal up to issue of Army trade badges?
Was the diver badge the only one worn by Sapper's?
Do we know when RE divers started to wear the now familiar trade badge(s)?
I seem to remember that these were worn in the late '60s and early '70s onwards. I joined the RE in 1969
Happy New Year to all forum members world wide
Jerry
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Old 31-12-20, 05:03 PM
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From my book Badges on Battle Dress.

Happy New Year to all members.

Jon

The increasing use by transport units of Army divers resulted in a 1959 review of their training as a result of which the Director of Army Transportation suggested introducing a diver’s badge for soldiers who volunteered for a task he believed was as dangerous as bomb disposal or parachuting.

Early designs, clearly modelled on the Royal Navy’s divers’ badges featured a diver’s helmet with added stars indicating different levels of training. Consultation with the RE Transportation Centre and 17th Port Regiment at Marchwood brought a suggestion that ‘SW’ should be added below the helmet for shallow water divers and in January 1961 badges with and without ‘SW’ were approved for officers and ORs of the Royal Engineers .
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Old 31-12-20, 05:13 PM
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Oh! Dear!

And I thought it was Shark Wrestler!
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Old 31-12-20, 05:46 PM
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Although not a precise science, analysis of the Pattern Numbers for the Diver and Diver SW badges (18586, 18587 and 18661) indicate that they date from the sequence used in the early 1960s. Exceptionally, the Diver SW badge in Bullion for No1 Dress has a slightly later Pattern Number of 21607 which dates from the late 1970s but may be a redesigned pattern. I have not been able to ascertain the Pattern Numbers for the gold anodised versions.

Tim
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Old 01-01-21, 12:34 AM
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Apologies for the poor photo but I have a larger Divers badge than the standard No2 Dress size and always assumed it was for Battledress, am I mistaken?
Normal No2 Dress size on the left and larger padded BD size badge on the right
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Sean
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Old 01-01-21, 10:09 AM
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I have a larger size Diver SW badge so possibly some badges were initially made for Battle Dress but changed to the smaller 1960 pattern on the issue of No 2 Dress.

The Diver DW badge is probably spurious!

Tim
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File Type: jpg 19E7A83B-AAC6-485B-A5D4-707E06A51304.jpg (62.5 KB, 28 views)
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Old 01-01-21, 10:21 AM
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Yes Tim I agree DW is fictitious, Denis Edwards ,,(Proficiency badges book) told me about the DW badge when I used to help him out on his stall when ever he came to Manchester.
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Old 01-01-21, 10:24 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sapper533 View Post
Yes Tim I agree DW is fictitious, Denis Edwards ,,(Proficiency badges book) told me about the DW badge when I used to help him out on his stall when ever he came to Manchester.
Did u stand with him at the Armoury, Stockport?

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Old 01-01-21, 10:31 AM
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Once I think, I did Pudsey Arms Fair with him and also Middleton Antiques fair in a number of occasions as I used to live in Blackley at the time so he used to pick me up on the way. I was only about 15 at the time and used to help him set up. Thankfully he paid me in badges! Along with my parents we were invited to stay for the weekend with him at his home in Prestatyn to see his collection........wow. Thankfully dad had brought his wallet so came away with lots of goodies, he and dad had both been Sergeant Majors so old war stories were exchanged whilst I rummaged.
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Old 01-01-21, 11:10 AM
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I assume he later moved to Frome on Somerset where I visited him. Unfortunately his collection had been donated to a Museum by then.
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Old 01-01-21, 11:29 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sapper533 View Post
Once I think, I did Pudsey Arms Fair with him and also Middleton Antiques fair in a number of occasions as I used to live in Blackley at the time so he used to pick me up on the way. I was only about 15 at the time and used to help him set up. Thankfully he paid me in badges! Along with my parents we were invited to stay for the weekend with him at his home in Prestatyn to see his collection........wow. Thankfully dad had brought his wallet so came away with lots of goodies, he and dad had both been Sergeant Majors so old war stories were exchanged whilst I rummaged.
I used to buy from him at Stockport, probably late 70's or early 80's and always found him very helpful, a really nice bloke. He started my interest in cloth trade and rank badges. I cant remember him at Pudsey but must have seen him.

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