Description
Physical description
A blue woollen rectangle on which embroidered in yellow / gold the sans-serif letters RCOC, with no stops between letters.
Label
The badge is the 2nd Division sign with the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps initials embroidered over. Worn by Divisional ADOS & staff and No. 2 Infantry Divisional Ordnance Field Park.
The use of distinctions superimposed onto formation patches to denote the arm of service to which units of a formation's corps and services belonged (ie: Signals, Engineers, Ordnance, Service, etc.) was a uniquely Canadian practice. The first such distinctions were granted at the end of 1940 and beginning of 1941 to the Ordnance Corps and the Engineers, followed by the Signals and Service Corps. As the number of these distinctions grew it appears that the general rule was for the corps' or service's initials to be superimposed onto the parent formation's basic patch in yellow (gold) letters. Notable exceptions were the use of a cherry bar to denote RCAMC units, the use of red and blue for RCE and the white on blue lettering for RCCS.
In April 1942 National Defence HQ in Canada notified the overseas army that shoulder titles had been approved for corps and services units (ie: RCE, RCOC, RCASC, RCAPC, RCAMC and CProC (Provost)) and recommended that these be used in conjunction with plain formation patches. This was not taken up immediately and the switch to the officially favoured style was piecemeal across the various corps and services and formations. It is worth noting that the RCEME, formed in February 1944 (some sixteen months after the British counterpart), never wore a distinction on a formation patch. By summer of 1944 distinctions on formation patches were probably the exception rather than the rule, certainly at divisional level. Notable officially sanctioned exemptions were the RCCS white letters on blue and the Army and Corps Artillery zig-zags, all of which retained their distinctions to the end of the war.
Being wool, this particular badge may date to the period before the end of 1942. It may also pre-date May 1943. The RCOC had been the first corps to request a distinction on formation patches, in January 1941. It was also the first to move away from them, ordering in April 1943 that plain formation signs be worn with RCOC shoulder titles, although it is not clear how long it took for this order to take effect.
History note
Associated person: John Tiffin Murray Stewart b. 1917, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. d. 6 August 1964, 47 yrs., heart attack. Service record: Gunner M 4044 RCA. 1942: Reg. H2, HQ RCA, 1st Administration Corps. RCA CASF (Canadian Active Service Force) 1st Division. 1943: Reg. H3, 3rd Field Regt. RCA CASF 1st Division. 1944: 1st A Wing. No. 1 CARU (Canadian Artillery Reinforcement Unit).
Family history: 11 December 1942, married Elfreda Joan, nee Knight, at Congregational Church West Wickham, Kent. 15 June 1945, returned Canada. 27 June 1946, joined by family (on board 'Letitia'). August 1948, all family return to UK ('Queen Mary'). Moved to family home, Cavendish Way, West Wickham, Kent. Subsequently bought house, Oak Avenue, Shirley, Croydon.
History note
Bibliographic references: DISTINGUISHING PATCHES: Formation Patches of the Canadian Army. Clive M. Law. (Private) Service Publications, Nepean, Ontario, 1996.
Centre of badge
RCOC