A Very Good Officer's Silver and Gilt Cap Badge of the Loyal Regt. the Lancashire 1950's.

Original early ERII. With red rose centre and gilt regimental banner. Silver crowned lion. 2 part construction. At the outbreak of World War II, the 1st Battalion Loyals were part of the 2nd Infantry Brigade, attached to the 1st Infantry Division. In September 1939 they were sent to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force and remained there alongside the French Army until May 1940. The 1st Loyals would participate in the fighting in France and Belgium in 1940, including acting as part of the rearguard for the Dunkirk evacuation. Eventually, the 1st Loyals would see action in Tunisia in early 1943, and Italy and at the Battle of Anzio where the 1st Division saw some of the fiercest fighting of the war. The battalion along with the rest of 1st Division were sent to Palestine in 1945. During the fighting in the Tunisian campaign, in April 1943, Lieutenant Willward Alexander Sandys-Clarke was posthumously awarded the regiment's only Victoria Cross of the war for his extreme heroism.

Upon the commencement of hostilities in 1939, the 2nd Battalion, Loyal Regiment found themselves stationed in the Far East as part of Singapore Fortress's 1st Malaya Infantry Brigade. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the 2nd Loyals fought in Malaya as part of the delaying action during the Battle of Malaya. Eventually, the 2nd Battalion surrendered along with the rest of the Singapore garrison on 15 February 1942. The survivors spent the rest of the war as prisoners of the Imperial Japanese Army.

Following the destruction of the 2nd Loyals with its surrender at Singapore, the battalion was reformed in Britain. The 10th Battalion, a hostilities-only battalion raised in 1940, was re-designated as the new 2nd Battalion on 28 May 1942. Eventually the battalion was deployed as part of 20th Indian Infantry Brigade of the 10th Indian Infantry Division in Italy during the closing phases of the Italian Campaign

Code: 18835