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Another group photograph of four gents wearing the Civil Defence battledress and trousers with the red-lettered ARP breast badge. The ARP badge was worn by some volunteers right through to the stand down of the Civil Defence General Services in May of 1945. I cannot see any rank or shoulder titles on the uniforms (but it could just be that they are not visible). The chap on the far right appears to have filled the bandage pocket on his trousers (or that's where he's keeping his pipe...). The gentleman second from the right has the badge of the St John Ambulance Association on his right pocket. There appear to be several different styles of this badge; embroidered and woven varieties are known. Usually, the badge had St John Ambulance Association, but some may have also had St John Ambulance Brigade (if the CD member was also a member of the brigade). I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has this badge.  Battledress Blouses With Red ARP Breast Badge
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An interesting group photo that shows every member wearing the red-lettered ARP breast badge on their battledress blouses (BD). I assume this is shortly after the new BDs were issued and the stock of ARP badges were being used up.  ARP breast badge on CD battledress Civil Defence personnel from across the UK parade before HM the King (no date on photo but I can just detect war service chevrons, so this may be the stand down parade in 1945). Nearly every man has qualified as either an Incident Officer or Bomb Reconnaissance Officer or both. Some badges have been correctly sewn to the sleeve (IO ahead of BRO), but some have these reversed, and one chap has them stacked.  CD Personnel Parade Before HM the King A little grouping belonging to a gentleman from Ivybridge in Devon recently sold. An interesting item was the red would stripe, which had been forwarded to the recipient by the Air Raid Precautions Dept. in Plympton. Only a single red stripe (for wounds in a previous war, presumably the Great War) could be worn. Multiple gold stripes could be worn for injuries incurred during the Second World War. Gold stripes would be worn forward of the red, separated by half an inch. The stripe appears to be a few inches of plain red Russian braid. It was to be sewn vertically on the left sleeve of the battledress, the bottom of the stripe four inches from the cuff. It remains a mystery why the recipient did not sew the stripe to his battledress.  Civil Defence red wound stripe  Appointment card for warden The image below shows a number of original WW2 badges relating to the Civil Defence Reserve: numeral tab badges (1 to 4), shoulder epaulette insignia (star), and shoulder flashes for mobile reserve formations. There are also printed CD and CDR beret badges. In the centre is a "M.O.W.B." (Ministry of Works and Buildings) badge with letters and a crown embroidered on blue cotton twill. Below this badge is a square civil defence badge. The CD armband is noted as "Armband Rank Marking". I have not seen the square Civil Defence badge in period photos. It may have been for the Civil Defence Reserve but no documentation is currently available to answer the question.  Numerals, beret badges, shoulder flashes and armband rank marking
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