A bit of colour for my Great Grandfathers military portrait Frank Clarke

[cazza59]

Good evening,

Hi Rich, strange to see this photo again. I remember the first time when we were checking on his regt and the medals.

It always amazes me the job the restorers and colourists can do. Well done to all of them.

At the risk of upsetting some of them though, the red hat band is incorrect as he is a Lt Colonel serving with a regt. Staff officers had the red band and would have red lapel flashes with oak leaves to go with it.

John915

Hi John,

I got as far as I could with the research for him. The colour restored photo is the icing on the cake and I know my Great Aunt will love it.

As for the historical accuracy, I did wonder. Thank you for letting me know. I've a real hard time deciding which photo to go with, they're all fantastic.

Thank you all for doing this. I'm amazed at how quickly it was completed!

Rich

Typical!  Every photo I Googled had a red band, and being a complete numpty when it comes to things military especially rank, I went with it. 

Caz

[ainslie]

I agree with the comment about the red cap band, unless he was on the Staff he would not have one. 
The leather chinstrap would normally be brown, not black, in a British uniform.
What regiment was he in?  I do not recognise the badges.

[rjb1984]

He started life in the Royal Army service corps, moved out to India where he transferred to the Royal Indian army service corps. That then became the REME. When the British Empire was dissolved and What was British Inida became India and Pakistan. Frank joined the Pakistan EME in 1947. Sadly he died six months after retiring in 1958. I suspect he had been unwell a while but a long and interesting career.

[ainslie]

I had not thought of the Pakistan Army, which explains the crescent at the top of the badge where a crown would be for the UK!  The badge did look a bit like REME when I first saw it.
A

[Aladdin]

A late one for your collection. Brilliant to supply colour refs for your photo, it makes it much quicker to do them