Army vet wants to trace‘girl’ he gave badge to

An Army veteran is looking to track down a woman whom he gifted his regimental uniform badge more than 65 years ago.

Roy Lawson is looking to reconnect with the then young girl that he awarded the regimental patch to on a train between Edinburgh and Stirling sometime in the mid-1950s.

Roy was raised in Dunipace, attending Denny High before he went on to a military career.

The 87-year-old served with the 7th Armoured Division – which was known as the Desert Rats.

He was regularly posted to Germany and as part of the trip would take a train from Stirling to Edinburgh and then Edinburgh to London.

One day, in around 1955, he was on a return trip, taking the train from Edinburgh towards Stirling.

During the course of his train journey, a young girl he estimates to have been 10-12-years -old boarded the train with her mother, in either Tillicoultry or Tullibody.

The young girl was enamoured with the regimental crest, which featured a red coloured rat. Roy removed the patch from his uniform and gifted it to the youngster.

Roy, who now resides in Cowdenbeath, Fife, said:“The mother and daughter got on to the train the girl kept looking at my regimental badge.

“I asked if she wanted and she said yes, so I ripped it off and gave it to her.

“It was only recently that it all came back to me and I wondered whatever happened to her and the badge. It would be very interesting to see if she remembers it.”

The British Army regiment earned the nickname of the‘Desert Rats’. It was formed in Egypt during 1938 as the Mobile Division (Egypt). In February 1940, the name of the unit was changed to the 7th Armoured Division.

The nickname was coined by the first divisional commander, Major-General Percy Hobart on a visit to Maaten Bagush, Egypt. There he met Rea Leakey, then GSO 3 Intelligence, who had a pet jerboa, or “desert rat”. Hobart took to the animal and decided to adopt“The Desert Rats”as a nickname for the division. The regimental emblem featured a red rat.

The division was disbanded in the 1950s, but, the history, name and the “Desert Rat”flash was carried on by the 7th Armoured Brigade. In November 2014, the brigade formally stepped out of its armour role to become 7th Infantry Brigade.

Were you the recipient of Roy’s badge all those years ago or know who was? We’d love to hear from you. Simply email Chris.Marzella@ reachplc.com or call 01786 459422.