Carry on SGT

unclevanya..The good conduct stripes were awarded for 2.5, 5, and 10 years then in multiples of 5 years.They could only be worn by L/Cpl and below.I took mine down when i arrived at 7 Sigs..

When i passed my T2 I wore a "flying T" above my tapes ..right arm.

And scrolling back to Dan M's GSM pic with Near East clasp.......... Is our Queen improperly dressed when she's sporting a King's crown, not one of those down-in -the middle golden bonnets like we had to adopt after 1952 ?

[quote="Gordon."]The good conduct stripes were awarded for 2.5, 5, and 10 years then in multiples of 5 years.They could only be worn by L/Cpl and below.

Thanks Gordon
So I was due my first GC stripe around the time No2 Dress came in, I always wondered about that. At the time it was generally thought that the first one came up after three years.
The stripes ceased to be, on the new uniform, but Trade and skill at arms badges continued.

In the battledress days, sleeve adornments seem to have been a unit thing from my recollection. I can't remember GC chevs on any arm in 16 RA though quite a few would have qualified. The only additions in prominence were Regt Sigs. crossed flags whilst other regts in the garrison allowed, or encouraged, the wreathed As or Bs for suitably qualified tradesmen. I can remember seeing a winged "DR" on a Don Rs arm, but that was unusual. Infantry wore the marksman's crossed rifles, but we didn't. When the subject was raised it was dismissed with a sneered " We're gunners lad, not an effing Boy Scout troop ".

gingerjim wrote:

staughton barracks , i feel sure that was the wrac barracks , if you notice the wrac band led the passing out parade , ginger

It was actually called Stoughton Barracks and was formerly The Depot, The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey). Largely redeveloped although a few of the original buildings exist.

The WRAC depot was a separate camp (Queen Elizabeth Barracks) rebuilt in about 1964 and about a mile north of Stoughton Barracks. The QE Barracks site is now a housing estate.

Gordon. wrote:

The good conduct stripes were awarded for 2.5, 5, and 10 years then in multiples of 5 years. They could only be worn by L/Cpl and below.

While reading the personal blog of an old soldier named Bill Griffiths, I came across the following information on one soldier's Good Conduct chevrons. The soldier in question in the photo below is Private Arthur Carter, a member of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry. The photo was taken at Copthorne Barracks (the KSLI Depot) circa 1948.


From the photo caption: Private Arthur (Nick) Carter served in the KSLI for 50 years from 1901-1951. He saw active service during the Boer War in South Africa and also in France during the First World War. On his left arm he is wearing ten good conduct stripes, the most ever awarded to anyone in the British Army. When he was discharged in 1951 he was the oldest serving soldier and had remained a private soldier from his own choice. Talking to Private Carter is the Earl of Povis, who was Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire. To his left is Major General Grover, and on the far right is Lt. Col. Shaw-Ball. After Private Carter was discharged, he lived in a rented room opposite his old Barracks.

The writer of the blog, Bill Griffiths, reported to Copthorne Barracks as a 15-year old Boy Soldier volunteer in May of 1946. His first encounter with Private Carter went as follows;
On arrival at the Quartermaster's store, I was surprised to see what I considered to be quite an old chap behind the counter. He had lots of stripes upside down on one sleeve, and I was told that these were known as service stripes, and represented numbers of years service, and this chap I was told was one of the oldest serving private soldiers in the British Army. Nick Carter was his name, but here was another chap who had to be called ‘Sir’ out of respect for his age and experience.

He proceeded to throw equipment and clothing onto the counter, which I was told to stuff quickly into the kit bag, which was the first item given to me. The old boy kept muttering about how small I was and ‘how was he supposed to kit out midgets, from the kit available to him’ . But he continued to find stuff from all corners of the store, and kept on throwing it onto the counter, and I kept stuffing it into my kit bag. I thought, how the hell am I going to carry all this lot? and he hadn’t finished yet. He had got to the stage of finding a uniform for me. He looked puzzled. "We don’t have battledress to fit midgets" he said. "How tall are you"? "Four foot ten" I replied. I gathered from his conversation with another chap in the store that there was nothing anywhere near my size, and that I would have to be taken to the regimental tailor who would have to conjure up something for me. In a funny sort of way, I felt quite pleased with myself, here I was, not even one whole day in the army, and it seemed as though I was one up on their system, but to be fair, I suppose I was extra small, and I recalled how my choirmaster Sir Percy Hull, had always called me midget!!

If anyone wishes to read more of Bill's Army adventures, he served 38 years before retiring as a WO II from the same Copthorne Barracks in 1984, they can be found here.

Cheers,
Dan.

http://www.rememberingscotlandatwar.org.uk/Accessible/Exhibition/179/It-made-you-fit

Can't find the National Service thread but check this out

To return to the original thread:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051453/locations?ref_=tt_dt_dt

I can remember a few years ago, i got a temporary civie job in a local Army Recruting Office where I live (Caesaromagus 20 klicks from Camoludunum, East Angular). I got a tad confused over the rank slides that soldier wear nowadays on the their cammo Army fatiques. I found it a tad difficult differentiating a WO2 and a Major. Both rank slides had a crown. So was the WO2 rank crown a bit larger than the officer's one?

Being slighty short sighted, at my age I got a bit confused at times. Such are the passing of the years, the joys of getting old.

unclevanya wrote:

I found it a tad difficult differentiating a WO2 and a Major. Both rank slides had a crown. So was the WO2 rank crown a bit larger than the officer's one?

The exact same problem currently exists in the Canadian Army.  The insignia for both a Major and a Warrant Officer is a crown.  In a uniform that does not use rank slides the Major wears his (or her) crown on the shoulder, while the Warrant Officer wears it on the sleeve.  Just like the Brits.

On a rank slide the only difference (it's the same crown for both) is that the Warrant Officer's crown is bigger (As it should be!).

I'm sure there's been events where hilarity has ensued.

Cheers,
Dan.

Gents.

Today as I feel many of you will be aware of is Anzac Day.

I Paraded with The RBL -Riders Oxon @ The Commonwealth War Graves site here in Botley.Oxford.

A small Gathering but I was proud to have stood there.

Regards to all Looking in.

We Will Remember Them.

John.
Oxford.
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Sorry Gents......I have posted this up on the wrong thread ..should have been Gen/Info.. !!! Perhaps The Management can help me here.

Good on ya, Cobber.
Len