Original Item: Only One Available. This is an exceptionally rare WWII 1943 dated bush hat. The left side of the hat has a lovely plastic or bakelite Royal Army Ordnance Corps badge, which at the center shows a shield with three cannons surmounted by three cannon balls. This is surrounded by a "garter" reading HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE ("shame on anyone who thinks evil of it"), with a King's Crown on top. Underneath is a banner reading ROYAL ARMY ORDNANCE CORPS. It is attached by brass clips on the back, and shows no signs of having been added post WWII.

The Slouch Hat itself is in very nice condition, and still has the original khaki cloth headband around the circumference of the hat. It looks to originally have been a nice khaki color, however the upper side shows a bit of fading due to use. It has original ventilation holes on both sides at the edge of the crown and press stud fastener on the left side of the brim and skull. The hat has its original leather sweatband which is clearly stamped:

Hall & Phillips Ltd.
7 ¼        1943,
(Broad Arrow)

The cap definitely does show use, but is still in solid condition. There is just a bit of mothing on the top just under the trim band, and the leather liner definitely shows staining and use. The RAOC was involved in every theater of WWII, and these hats were quite popular in the East Asia region.

A solid example of a very hard to find hat, WWII dated and with a great cap badge. Ready to display!

The Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) was a corps of the British Army. At its renaming as a Royal Corps in 1918 it was both a supply and repair corps. In the supply area it had responsibility for weapons, armored vehicles and other military equipment, ammunition and clothing and certain minor functions such as laundry, mobile baths and photography. The RAOC was also responsible for a major element of the repair of Army equipment. In 1942 the latter function was transferred to the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) and the vehicle storage and spares responsibilities of the Royal Army Service Corps were in turn passed over to the RAOC. The RAOC retained repair responsibilities for ammunition, clothing and certain ranges of general stores. In 1964 the McLeod Reorganization of Army Logistics resulted in the RAOC absorbing petroleum, rations and accommodation stores functions from the Royal Army Service Corps as well as the Army Fire Service, barrack services, sponsorship of NAAFI (EFI) and the management of staff clerks from the same Corps. On 5 April 1993, the RAOC was one of the corps that amalgamated to form The Royal Logistic Corps (RLC).