SEWING PATCHES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 93, 19 April 1940, Page 8

SEWING PATCHES.

WOMEN AT PAPAKURA. BADGES FOR SOLDIERS. DENOTE UNITS OF SERVICE. I "Patches upon patches, stitches upon stitches. 7. The words of the well-known verse were to be seen in reality in the V.M.C.A. and other recreation the Papakura mobilisation camp day, when over r>o city women, the wives and friends of officers of the 21st Auckland Battalion, were engaged in sewing patches on the sleeves of kltaki serge tunics and greatcoats of members of the Second Kchelon.

One particular hut which was visited by a '"Star" reporter was a hive of industry, and for the second successive day the women were working 1 il<i> Trojans. To-morrow — perhaps — they will finish their task, which is to sew about 72(10 patches on to tunics and greatcoats.

Some idea of the magnitude of the work can lip gained from the fa«'t that when the work is completed some four and a half miles of thread will have been used. On each tunic there are four patches, and the same number on the greatcoat. Piles of garments await the nimble lingers of the women, and where each patch is to lie affixed a white chalk mark is made on the tunic, for, like everything else in the army, there must be imiforiiiitv. »

"Within the next day or two these patches will be seen in the city, and to the uninitiated they will l>e a source of puzzlement. However, they are not so complicated as they appear to be at first sight. The patches are of'a two-fold nature. The upper patch, termed the formation patch, denotes the arm of the service— for example, infantry, army service corps or artillery—to which the wearer belong-s. It varies in shape according to whether the man is attached to divisional troops, infantry or artillery, and its colour is the same as the colour on the band worn on the familiar peaked hat. Below is the basic patch, which shows the particular unit in the arm of the service.

For example, the patches being sewn on to infantrymen's tunics and greatcoats are red in colour. The upper patch, which is rectangular in shape, denotes, that the wearer is in the Fifth Infantry Brigade. Below is a red patch two inches square, and in the centre is a small khaki square. The red square denotes infantry and the khaki square indicates that the man belongs to the 21st Auckland Battalion.

In other arms of the service <he men are doing their own sewing. The city women are working under the direction of Mrs. X. L. Mncky, wife of the commanding oflicer of the 21st Auckland Battalion.