CEF 2nd Construction Battalion Cap Badge WWI (Lot #2)

#00001601

Price:	$129.00
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Above are the scans of a rare CEF 2nd Construction Battalion Cap Badge. Made of brass, in excellent condition, with both lug type fasteners original, and in good order.

The No. 2 Construction Battalion, (CEF), was the only all-black battalion in Canadian military history and also the only one to serve in WWI.

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Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel D.H. Sutherland, formerly of the 193rd Battalion, CEF, all but one of the No. 2 Battalion Construction's 19 officers were white. The exception being ... Captain William A. White, Rev._William_A._White.jpg the unit's Chaplain.

Before the "Dominion of Canada" existed we did have other black companys and/or regiments ...The Captain Runchey's Company of Coloured Men was one of the first black regiments in Canada. They served during the War of 1812-14. Another Black regiment raised in Canada was the Victoria Rifles (the colony of Nova Scotia) (1860-61). With the outbreak of WW1, very few blacks were serving in the Canadian military because of the social attitudes prevalent at the time. Some black Canadians tried to join the Canadian Expeditionary Force, but were rejected. The Department of Militia and Defence's recruitment policy was to leave these sorts of decisions up to each command officer, but,of course, since many followed the "norm", and consequently, their beliefs influenced their recruitment choices. Members of the black community petitioned the military for inclusion in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Reverend C.W. Washington of Edmonton was able to raise an all-Black battalion, as he had promised, and the military officials therefore authorizing the "No. 2 Construction Battalion". They left Halifax, Nova Scotia on board the "SS Southland" on March 28th, 1917 bound for Liverpool, England. In May of that year, after arriving scarcely a month before, the unit was downgraded from its "battalion" status to "company" status and assigned to become part of the Canadian Forestry Corps. In late 1917, the #2 Construction Battalion was moved up and stationed in the Jura of France, at a town called La Joux. They worked in lumbering, producing timber to be used by Allied armies for the upkeep of the roads and trench repairs, to mention a couple. The boys were ready and willing to take part in the trench war, but, since the same old game was in play, only a few made it. Some were casualties to artillery fire, some to poison gas, others to sickness and construction accidents. Perhaps regretfully, they never got their real chance to give some back... but all in all, as I'm sure you'll agree, they could be proud of the risks they took and the service they rendered to their homeland. The men of No. 2 Construction Battalion returned to Canada in 1919. The unit was disbanded on September 15, shortly after their arrival.