snowtracdave Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 Attached - hopefully - to this , is a photograph of one of mum's brothers , Ronald Whitfield . We've been tentatively trying to research Rons military service for a little while now but not having his service number has been a bit of a stumbling block . We do know that he was with the Royal Signals and legend has it that he might somehow have been involved with the development of RADAR . Having just made a start on clearing mums house now she is no longer with us , a couple of pictures have turned up which we have not seen before . Unfortunately uniforms and insignia aren't my area of expertise so I'm hoping the combined brains of the HMVF can tell me what all of his patches mean . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 (edited) Div patch Sword coming from water -7th Infantry Div. Flags Regimental signaller Blue on left White with blue stripe on right. Can't make out cap badge though. Edited March 5, 2017 by Tony B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
11th Armoured Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 As Tony says, 77th Infantry Division - more info here: 77th Infantry Division The cap badge is the Essex Regiment, I believe: Essex Regiment From the divisional order of battle shown in the first article, that would mean that your uncle Ron served with the 9th Battalion, Essex Regiment, which belonged to 203rd Infantry Brigade (the senior brigade of 77th Inf. Div.). It would appear that the 9th Essex was part of 77th Inf. Div. from its formation on the 1st of December 1941 until September 1942 (after which it was converted to artillery), which nicely pins the date of the photo down to a 9-10 month period. Hope this helps, Kevin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowtracdave Posted March 6, 2017 Author Share Posted March 6, 2017 Thank you very much both , will pass the info on to my brother who is trying to do the research . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REME 245 Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 Also wearing his private purchase Regimental side cap so obviously his best BD for walking out. One of those strips on his arm is presumably an Essex Regiment dress distinction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
11th Armoured Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 Also wearing his private purchase Regimental side cap so obviously his best BD for walking out. One of those strips on his arm is presumably an Essex Regiment dress distinction. I've just read that the 2nd battalion wore a 'Pompadour blue' strip (apparently a dark purple-blue shade) under the standard scarlet arm-of-service strip as a regimental distinction, so perhaps that also applied to the 9th battalion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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