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Military Sweetheart Brooches of the First World War

30 points by petethomas 8y ago

chrisseaton 8y ago
People still wear sweetheart broaches today. It let wives and girlfriends show which regiment their partner is with. Some female officers wear them as a female equivalent of regimental ties, as well.
Wildgoose 8y ago
I inherited a cardboard box from my grandparents which is lined with newspaper describing a giant tank battle - which given the date must be the Battle of Kursk. One of the items it contained appeared to a kind of RAF badge made of some kind of plastic but with no identifying insignia. After investigation I realised it was a "sweetheart badge" from the Second World War, (my Grandfather was in the RAF). Apparently they were worn by women to discourage unwanted attention by making it clear to potential suitors that they already had a partner.
- arethuza 8y ago
  My dad was in the RAF in WW2 - he had piles of stuff from the war in our attic that I used to trawl through as a young kid. Unfortunately when my mother was in the early stages of dementia she threw all that stuff out - he was quite upset.
sandworm101 8y ago
The 'legal' version of a less-legal reality. Soldiers are not rich. For lack of funds, they would often their girlfriends bits of their uniforms. They cannot hand over equipment, but they can get away with "loosing" a bit of uniform here or there. Look at all the WWII photographs of french girls with military berets. The crests and insignia were the closest thing a soldier has to jewelry. Soldiers were not, are still not, supposed to do this nor are civilians normally allowed to wear military stuff. These replicas are the more palatable version of an older tradition.
tyingq 8y ago
I imagine these were handy for men looking for someone that might be lonely and not interested in a long term commitment. Perhaps the opposite of the intended outcome.
- Retric 8y ago
  ‘almost every female seemed to wear one’ speaks to how different the world wars where vs what we think of a modern wars where only a small percentage of the population are directly involved.

30 points by petethomas 8y ago

People still wear sweetheart broaches today. It let wives and girlfriends show which regiment their partner is with. Some female officers wear them as a female equivalent of regimental ties, as well.

Wildgoose 8y ago

I inherited a cardboard box from my grandparents which is lined with newspaper describing a giant tank battle - which given the date must be the Battle of Kursk. One of the items it contained appeared to a kind of RAF badge made of some kind of plastic but with no identifying insignia. After investigation I realised it was a "sweetheart badge" from the Second World War, (my Grandfather was in the RAF). Apparently they were worn by women to discourage unwanted attention by making it clear to potential suitors that they already had a partner.

arethuza 8y ago
My dad was in the RAF in WW2 - he had piles of stuff from the war in our attic that I used to trawl through as a young kid. Unfortunately when my mother was in the early stages of dementia she threw all that stuff out - he was quite upset.

sandworm101 8y ago

The 'legal' version of a less-legal reality. Soldiers are not rich. For lack of funds, they would often their girlfriends bits of their uniforms. They cannot hand over equipment, but they can get away with "loosing" a bit of uniform here or there. Look at all the WWII photographs of french girls with military berets. The crests and insignia were the closest thing a soldier has to jewelry. Soldiers were not, are still not, supposed to do this nor are civilians normally allowed to wear military stuff. These replicas are the more palatable version of an older tradition.

tyingq 8y ago

I imagine these were handy for men looking for someone that might be lonely and not interested in a long term commitment. Perhaps the opposite of the intended outcome.

Retric 8y ago
‘almost every female seemed to wear one’ speaks to how different the world wars where vs what we think of a modern wars where only a small percentage of the population are directly involved.