The Royal Newfoundland Regiment wears a cap badge displaying a caribou's head within a wreath surmounted by a crown; beneath is a ribbon bearing the legend "ROYAL NEWFOUNDLAND REGIMENT". Their tradition is that while soldiers must keep their badge clean, they are not permitted to polish it.

This dates back to the Battle of Beaumont Hamel, one of the many engagements of the First Battle of the Somme in July 1916. In order that the commanders of the formations and units could easily identify their own, the soldiers had polished brass discs attached to their ammo pouches. (This is obviously before the days that camouflage doctrine was refined). Problem was, not only could the commanders see their men, so could the Germans. It was just one more error that contributed to the debacle of the Somme, and particularly Beaumont Hamel.

On 1 July 1916, as part of the British 29th Division, 88th Brigade, 801 soldiers of the Newfoundland Regiment scrambled out of their trenches and moved towards their objective. Half an hour later, it was all over: 68 soldiers answered roll call after the battle; all the officers were casualties.

This is an extreme condensation of the story. Bottom line is that, as a memorial of this black day, the Royal Newfoundland Regiment do not polish their cap badges.

J

Should of thought about doing that before