What military uniform? Help, please

[medpat]

The cloth flash on the upper left arm looks a little like the RAF eagle. Look on any non-commissioned persons RAF uniform and you'll see the RAF eagle on the top of both sleeves. Don't know if Aus and NZ air forces have something similar.

[Andy J2022]

Medpat, I assume you mean the airman's badge

If so, I can't agree. Firstly the RAF badge is on a rectangular background; secondly on the RAF badge the device (the eagle) is horizontal whereas in the OP's photo the device is more vertical, tending to diagonal top left to bottom right. Thirdly the RAF don't, or didn't, wear slouch hats, and finally Tonepad has already satisfactorily identified the badge as that of the 20th Indian Infantry Division, shown below.

[Time Runner]

I've been away so have only just caught up on these last couple of posts. Andy, you say:

Tonepad has already satisfactorily identified the badge as that of the 20th Indian Infantry

Are you convinced? I keep staring at the pic in my original post, and while I do see a resemblance to the raised sword, I also see troubling differences. The badge in the OP isn't vertical, and it seems to have some sort of lobe on the top end.

If I get any confirmation on this from any other source Ill be sure to report back here with the info!

[Time Runner]

Hi everyone,

It's been a while, but I've had something of a breakthrough identifying the shoulder badge in the photo at the beginning of this thread, and I thought I'd share the info here in case it's useful, or simply curious, to anyone else.

The shoulder badge is that of the 7th Indian Infantry Division.

I've managed to discover quite a bit more about the chap since I last posted (yesterday I received a copy of his service record from The National Archives at Kew). He was with the British Royal Artillery's 24 Light Anti-Aircraft/Anti-Tank Regiment (which was re-designated 24 Anti-Tank Regiment in September 1944 – https://ra39-45.co.uk/units/light-anti-aircraft-anti-tank-regiments/24-light-anti-aircraft-anti-tank-regiment-rata), which means he was part of the Burma campaign.

There's still a great deal more I'd like to find out about him, but I'm much further down the road of un-ignorance than when I started this thread!

Thanks to all of you who set me off in the right direction.

 


The badge in question is attached below (source: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30071162):