World War II Canadian Lanyards

Since most collectors view lanyards as insignia, I will post this thread under 'BADGES & CLOTH INSIGNIA.' Hopefully other members will join in and help me to expand on this topic. Please post wartime photographs showing lanyards being worn and photographs of uniforms with lanyards.

The Fort Garry Horse wore a blue and yellow lanyard.

Lieutenant Colonel Mathieu of Le Regiment de la Chaudiere, photographed in England prior to D-Day. He wears ribbons for the Coronation Medal and the Efficiency Decoration indicating 20 years service in the Militia. Note the maroon coloured lanyard also.

On another thread Geoff posted two great photographs showing the dark green lanyard worn by the Saskatoon Light Infantry.

The red/white/blue shoulder cord of the First Special Service Force.

Donald A. Ballantyne, HQ Detachment, 1st Battalion, 3rd Regiment, FSSF.

A black and old gold (yellow) lanyard was worn on the left shoulder by all ranks of the Overseas Battalion, South Alberta Regiment.

Hello all,

I discovered this SSR tunic and lanyard in a Legion Collection yesterday. The lanyard is yellow and purple to match the shoulder title.

Geoff

South Saskatchewan Reginemt! nice.

Anyone have any idea what units these lanyards belong to? I was given them recently and have no idea.

Cheers!

I have one similar to Scott's lanyard(blue,red, and yellow)It just has different color knots at the end(blue instead of yellow). I was told it was an RCEME lanyard but as far as I can tell they did not have one.

Scott:

Your braided green and red shoulder cord (center right) is the French Fourragere to the Croix de Guerre.
Your braided green and yellow shoulder cord (far right) is the French Fourragere to the Medalle Militaire.

Thanks for the ID help...are those all that rare? I stick exclusively to Canadian militaria so not much of an idea about French decoration.

Scott

southsaskscotty wrote:Thanks for the ID help...are those all that rare? I stick exclusively to Canadian militaria so not much of an idea about French decoration.

Scott

Scott:

No, they are not rare. However, a fourragere from WW II would be more desirable then a modern day fourragere.

The Canadian use of the lanyard is very much different from the French who use the fourragere as a military award. The Wikipedia.org has an excellent article which gives you a full explanation and break down on the French fourragere. The article also lists the fourageres awarded to American units in WW I, the fourrageres awarded to American units in WW II and the fourrageres awarded to the Legion Etrangere.

Here's what they say about the personal wear of the fouragere:

"Personal wear of the fourragère

The fourragère is normally worn by members of a unit awarded the decoration. When they leave the unit, they have to relinquish the fourragère. However members who took part personally in the actions leading to the award of the fourragère can continue to wear the fourragère, even after leaving the unit. They can only wear a fourragère corresponding to the number of actions they actually took part in. Thus, if a member of a 5-mentions regiment leaves but took part in only two mentioned actions, he can only wear the croix de guerre fourragère and not the médaille militaire fourragère."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourragère




General Graves B. Erskine wears the fourragère with the cords hanging over the sleeve, a mark of being in the military unit when the award was made. Soldiers and Marines who are later assigned to the unit do not wear the outside cords. Graves B. Erskine, then platoon leader in the 6th Marine Regiment, was personally authorized to wear the fourragère.

General Clifton B. Cates went one to become a four star general and a Commandant of the United States Marine Corps. He is seen here wearing the fourragere from his service in WW I.

This is a great SSR BD Geoff. I like this style of braiding for the lanyards. Did this BD have any provenance?

I recognize the style of braid on that BD. I use it to make paracord survival bracelets and such. I call it the Cobra Stitch.

WW II Loyal Edmonton Regiment Lanyard:

Photographs courtesy of Trench Rat Militaria.

Here is another from Command Post Militaria (currently listed on eBay). I was able to view this one in person at the Calgary show and it is very nice.



Geoff

I uncovered a document at Archives many years ago which I shared with Michael Dorosh at Canadiansoldiers.com He used this info as the basis for a page on his site. As it turns out, I recently discovered that this document was to form the basis of an Appendix to the 1943 War Dress Regulations. The appendix was not included as the data was not available. The info only included lanyard information up to 1943 and many of these may have come into use in 1944-45.

The orange and black lanyard of the 1st Canadian Armoured Carrier Regiment.

mk1rceme wrote:I have one similar to Scott's lanyard(blue,red, and yellow)It just has different color knots at the end(blue instead of yellow). I was told it was an RCEME lanyard but as far as I can tell they did not have one.

I am seeing a similar one on a battledress jacket for somebody who was in the infantry. Before he was transferred there, he was posted to the RCE. From what I can find in some of my books, they did not have a lanyard. Does anybody know if they had any?