DAYS OF YORE CHRONICLES
Historical and Traditional Anecdotes
of
12 Service Battalion
and its
Predecessors
by Honorary Colonel
LA Watkins, OMM,CD
Vol 1 No 1
12 Service Battalion Crest
There is no better way to start this series than to tell
the story of our unit's Badge.
Our Badge received Royal Consent when
Queen Elizabeth II placed her handwritten approved to the
design. The Director of Ceremonial at NDHQ, authorized
the 12 Service Battalion Badge in June 1977.
We are proud to be one of the original
three Service Battalions to receive this honour. The
other two units were another reserve unit and a
regular unit. All Regular & Reserve Service Battalions
now have the honour of a distinctive unit Badge.
Little known but not forgotten is the
account of how our units’ Badge was conceived;
early in 1975, the Service Battalion Secretariat at Mobile
Command (FMC), provided a common shell design of a badge.
This shell had a blank centre and each Service Battalion
was to provide their own core design.
During the Fall of 1975, then CO, LCol
S Dzuba , held a unit contest to determine a distinctive
“west-coast” design, for the core of the Badge.
Numerous unit members submitted suggestions and WO Bill
Summersgill, RSS of the MP PL, won the contest
with a proposal of a swimming Orca Whale.
Our Badge drawing was submitted in early
1976 and after some changes due to heraldic laws, we received
final approval.
Our Badge is Heraldic described as:
Description: Argent, in base three
bars wavy azure, in front of the whole a killer whale leaping
proper.
Significance: The three bars wavy
allude to an ocean area and the killer whale to British
Columbia in particular where this whale is frequently seen.
Motto: "Duty Above All"
Other Articles in this Series:
- The Evolution of a
Service Battalion
- Freedom of the City
- Colonel Norman
Clarence Sherman, OBE, CD
 Battalion
Organization
|
