Originally Posted by
Tankertrashnav
The nearest sergeant has the Africa Star which was actually authorised in 1943, ahead of most of the other campaign stars, thus it is not unusual to see the ribbon being worn alone. The medals themselves of course didnt come along until later. Interestingly the men are wearing the 5th Army formation sign which was worn by both British and American troops in Italy.
There cant be many photographs of major generals wearing regiment flashes,I suspect he may have been the first Commandant General of the RAF Regiment (he bears a striking resemblance to Arthur Lowe, as Captain Mainwaring of Dad's Army!)
By the way when I was in the regiment in the 60s/early 70s we never talked about mudgards, always flashes, I assume the term has come into common usage since I left
Originally Posted by
WB627
Congratulations to the young LB
Some early Rocks, interesting combination of uniform
A quick reverse image search reveals this is a probably a colourised version of a B&W photo in the IWM Collection and available on the wonderful Wikipedia, the description of which reads "Major General C F Liardet, Commandant of the RAF Regiment, inspects the NCOs of No. 2788 Squadron at Cassino, Italy. He is seen shaking hands with Sergeant Curtiss from Hull"
Sir Claude Francis Liardet (b. 1881, d. 1966), late various Lancashire regiments and latterly Royal Artillery, was (unusually for a Major General) a Territorial Army officer, who was appointed the Air Ministry Inspector General of Airfield Defence and Director General of Ground Defence from 1941; subsequently becoming the first Commandant General of the RAF Regiment from 1942 - 1945.
2788 Sqn RAF Regiment were the first RAF Regiment squadron to go into the line with the Eighth Army in Tunisia during 1943 (probably hence what appears to be the Africa Star ribbon on the battledress of the four NCO's being inspected, accuracy of the colourisation process notwithstanding) and later transferred to Italy, where they saw heavy fighting at Monte Cassino in 1944; again in an infantry role as part of the 2nd NZ and the 4th British Divisions respectively (also hence the 5th Army formation badge). So I'd suspect the photo was taken shortly thereafter, possibly Jun/Jul 1944, as the squadron was subsequently moved to Corsica and took part in the invasion of southern France (Operation ANVIL / DRAGOON) by the middle of August 1944.
(Of note, The National Archives hold a file (Air 29/97) which includes some 2788 Sqn nominal rolls from the period. Not available online, perhaps somebody local with a readers' ticket could work out who Sgt Curtiss was?!!)