Ceremony marks return of coloured patch for Atlantic Canadian army soldiers

HALIFAX – A ceremony was held today in Halifax to mark the return of a coloured uniform patch for Canadian Army units in the Atlantic provinces.

Brig.-Gen. Nicolas Eldaoud says the maroon patch will identify members of the 5th Canadian Division, which represents roughly 8,000 soldiers in Atlantic Canada.

Eldaoud, the division commander, says the patch was worn by soldiers during the first and second world wars as a means of identifying which division they were part of, but the practice was dropped after the Second World War.

He says reinstating the patches restores a piece of Canadian history and honours the fallen soldiers who wore the patch.

The ceremony in Halifax for members of the 36 Canadian Brigade Group is the first of four similar events happening across the Atlantic provinces this month.

Eldaoud says all members of the 5th Canadian Division should have the patch on their uniforms by the end of the summer.

The federal government announced last July that the coloured patches would be reinstated for the military divisions across the country.