Hello everyone,
I am trying to get a present together for my father in laws 73rd birthday in june, his name is Sid Weatherill from Whitby north yorks,
he joined the army voluntarily in the early 50's in the royal signals and then joined the paras voluntarily shortly afterwards following a recruiting visit by the parachute regiment, he left i think after 3 years and was called back up for the suez crisis,
i would like to get together and frame some relative memorabila for his birthday present,
so far i have got a capbadge for the royal signals, circa 1953, and some signals buttons, he has told me that he had a maroon beret but it had a signals badge on it rather than a para badge because he was an attatced unit, he has also said many times that his bayonet was different to others and that it was like a fighting knife that the end swiveled round on to make it fit either a sten gun or a rifle and that he deeply regretted handing it in when he left, i have aquired a no7 mk 1 bayonet which i beleive is the correct one, am i right?
i am trying to get to complete the present, a patch which i think is called a pegasus which was worn on the uniform sleeve am i correct and a correct period parachute wings badge, he has his original wings but theyre sowed onto an ancient rucksak he used for hiking when he left the army and i darent remove them, i have seen other para wings but the ones he has on his rucksack are different, can anyone advise me as to what i need,
many thanks for any replies,
p.s. if anyone reading this Knows Sid, please dont tell him about this, he is very well in fact for nearly 73 he is extremelly well last week i was on holiday in the lake district with our family and we climbed jakes rake on pavey ark from stickle tarn, and he ran up it like a rat up a drainpipe, if you know the lakes this will impress you if you dont its a 2300 foot climb.
thanks again.
Colin.
