Description
Physical description
badge
A rectangle of purple wool with curved top and bottom edges and straight ends on which embroidered serif capital lettering: SOUTH SASKATCHEWAN (in yellow) / CANADA (in white) / LIGHT INFANTRY (in yellow), the top and bottom lines following the upper and lower curves.
Label
This title dates from after the period September –December 1941. The original commander of 2 Division ordered that units in his division were not to use shoulder titles but to use a scheme similar to that used in the First World War whereby its brigades and battalions were differentiated through geometric shapes attached adjacent to the Divisional patch. This was in distinction to the decision made by the commander of the 1st Division at this time (see INS 15). The Division dropped this practice around September to December 1941. When taking up shoulder titles, the Division again chose to be different in that it appears to have adopted a unique shape for all its infantry battalions, being a rectangle of uniform size across all units with vertical ends and with curved top and bottom edges. (See INS 145 –152 inc.)
Divisional corps and services units (eg: Signals, Service, Ordnance etc.) wore distinctions superimposed on the divisional patch in line with all other Canadian formations. This practice had been all but abandoned under official pressure by early summer 1944.
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
Bibliographical sources: DISTINGUISHING PATCHES: Formation Patches of the Canadian Army. Clive M. Law. (Private) Service Publications, Nepean, Ontario, 1996. FORMATION AND UNIT SIGNS OF THE BRITISH REGULAR ARMY AND TERRITORIAL ARMY. Major John Waring. Identification Pamphlet No. 1. Privately published, no date (c. 1950s) Key to Shapes of Shoulder Titles. THE CANADIAN SOLDIER In North West Europe 1944 –1945. Jean Bouchery. Histoire & Collections, Paris, 2003.