Object of the Month for January

This object was recently donated to the Museum. It is an Auxiliary Territorial Service (or ATS) coat from World War Two. It was owned by a young woman called Elizabeth who was originally from Lancashire but was stationed in Stirling during the War. Her daughter, from Lockerbie, donated this coat to the Museum.

One of the most interesting parts of this donation was inside the overcoat. On the outside, it is a standard issue military style coat but inside are numerous felt badges from different countries and regiments involved in World War Two.  The donor didn’t know what these badges were, and she was curious to know how her mother acquired them.

Some of our young volunteers managed to find out what all the badges were, but we don’t know why Elizabeth had them (they were probably tokens or mementoes from people she met during the War).

Here are some of the most interesting badges which she has collected:

Igloo with a star: Exercise Eskimo Badge

Rainbow and flaming sword: Post WW2 U.S. Forces European command

Red gate: British troops in Northern Ireland

3 yellow stripes: Overseas service

Tigers face: British army, South East Command UK