8 Division Signals colour patch sweetheart brooch : M D Ingram, Volunteer Aid Detachment

Enamelled sweetheart brooch showing the colour patch of Signals, 8 Division, AIF. A brooch pin has been soldered to the reverse side for attachment.

Associated with the service of Marjorie Doreen Ingram who was born in July 1898 in Sydney, New South Wales. Ingram served in Sydney with Volunteer Aid Detachment 240 during the Second World War. She was married Robert Cuthbert Ingram in 1939. He became a prisoner of the Japanese in 1942 and died in Japan in 1944. This brooch is an example of commercially produced 'sweetheart' jewellery from the Second World War. Often worn by female relatives and/or a girlfriend or wife, the brooches were a symbol of pride, support and affection for a loved one serving in the armed forces. They could be purchased by the women themselves or given as a gift by the serviceman concerned. This brooch is a colour patch for 8 Division Signals, the unit her husband served with when he was captured by the Japanese.