Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

WWII ARTILLERY CAP BADGE

Date Range From

1939

Date Range To

1945

Materials

BRASS

No. Pieces

2

Height

4.9

Length

7

Description

A: BRASS SECOND WORLD WAR ROYAL CANADIAN ARTILLERY CAP BADGE. BADGE DEPICTS THE ARTILLERY’S CREST WITH A FIELD GUN IN THE CENTER. UNDERNEATH A CROWN AT THE TOP OF THE BADGE IS THE WORD “UBIQUE” EMBOSSED IN BANNER IN BRASS. BELOW THE FIELD GUN IS A BANNER THAT READS “QUO PAS ET GLORIA DUCUNT”. BACKSIDE HAS TWO PARALLEL RINGS HORIZONTALLY IN THE BOTTOM HALF FOR THE PIN. B: BRASS CAP BADGE PIN WITH TWO PRONGS MEETING AT ONE END WITH A LOOP AND THEN EXTENDING OUTWARD. OUTER ENDS ARE BENT AWAY FROM EACH OTHER TO FORM A WIDER V. PIN DIMENSIONS: 6.1 X 1.7 CM CONDITION: FINISH HAS DARKENED WITH MINOR WEAR TO SURFACE.

Subjects

PERSONAL SYMBOL

Historical Association

MILITARY

History

IN 2016, JOHN VAN DEN BROEKE DONATED TWO CAP BADGES AND A WORLD WAR II DEFENSE MEDAL TO THE GALT MUSEUM. VAN DEN BROEKE’S FATHER, GEORGE JOHN VAN DEN BROEKE, AND HIS UNCLE, MARTIN CORNELIUS VAN DEN BROEKE BOTH SERVED FOR CANADA DURING THE WAR. VAN DEN BROEKE’S UNCLE WAS KILLED IN ACTION WHILE OVERSEAS. IT IS CLAIMED THE ARTIFACTS BELONGED TO THE DONOR'S FATHER AND UNCLE. THIS BADGE IS PRESUMED TO HAVE BELONGED TO THE DONOR'S FATHER. TO ACQUIRE FURTHER INFORMATION REGARDING THE ARTIFACTS’ HISTORY, GALT COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN KEVIN MACLEAN INTERVIEWED DONOR JOHN VAN DEN BROEKE AT THE MUSEUM ON 6 NOVEMBER 2016. THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION HAS BEEN EXTRACTED FROM THAT INTERVIEW. VAN DEN BROEKE EXPLAINED, “MY FATHER WAS...A GUNNER [WITH THE 44 A.A. BATTERY]. HE WAS STATIONED AT PRINCE RUPERT. MY UNCLE – I’M NOT TOO SURE IF ANY OF THESE [ITEMS] DEAL WITH HIM – IS ON THE CENOTAPH AT LETHBRIDGE. HE DIED IN VILLANOVA ITALY IN DECEMBER ’44, 1943... THE WAR IS JUST ABOUT OVER WHEN HE GOT KILLED.” “[THESE BADGES AND THE MEDAL REMIND ME OF] THE WAR EFFORT,” VAN DEN BROEKE CONTINUED, “[ALONG WITH] MY UNCLE AND MY FATHER [WHO WERE A PART OF THAT EFFORT]. [WHILE] MY UNCLE DIED IN ’44, MY FATHER [DIDN’T GO] INTO THE ARMY UNTIL ABOUT ’43. HE WAS DRAFTED OUT TO PRINCE RUPERT FOR THE JAPANESE INVASION, IF IT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN. IT’S [PART OF THE] HISTORY OF OUR FAMILY.” ALONG WITH THE DONATION OF THE BADGES AND THE MEDAL, VAN DEN BROEKE DONATED SOME OF HIS FAMILY’S ARCHIVAL MATERIAL CONNECTED TO THE SECOND WORLD WAR TO THE GALT ARCHIVES (PLEASE SEE ARCHIVAL ACCESSION NUMBER 20161102). ACCORDING TO THE INTERVIEW, JOHN VAN DEN BROEKE [THE DONOR] WAS BORN IN 1947 AND HIS DAD RETURNED HOME FOLLOWING THE WAR. HE STATED, “[I KNEW THAT THESE MATERIALS EXISTED] FROM WHEN I WAS ABOUT TWENTY, OR MAYBE EVEN YOUNGER. MY GRANDMOTHER WAS MOTHER OF THE YEAR OR WHATEVER THEY CALL, SILVER MOTHER OR SOMETHING, HERE IN LETHBRIDGE IN 1967.” “[MOST OF THE VETERANS] DIDN’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT,” VAN DEN BROEKE REPLIED WHEN ASKED ABOUT HIS MEMORIES OF HIS FATHER SPEAKING ABOUT HIS EXPERIENCE OF THE WAR, “PROBABLY THE FIRST REAL TIME I GOT INTO THIS WAS WHEN HE WENT AND TOOK GRAMMA TO THE GRAVE TO LAY THE WREATH. HE ESCORTED HER AS HER SON, AND SHE LAID THE WREATH ON BEHALF OF SOUTHERN ALBERTA. I WAS THERE FOR THAT CEREMONY, AND [I RECALL BEING] QUITE TAKEN BACK BY THE WAY THOSE GUYS COULD SALUTE. IT WAS THE FIRST TIME I’D SEEN MY FATHER DO IT, AND IT ALMOST RAISED THE HAIR ON YOUR NECK BECAUSE IT WAS SO PRECISE. SO THAT’S WHEN I STARTED TAKING AN INTEREST IN THIS STUFF.” “[EVEN AFTER I TOOK AN INTEREST IN THAT HISTORY, MY DAD DID NOT REALLY SPEAK MUCH ABOUT IT.] THERE WASN’T A LOT HAPPENED ON THE WEST COAST [WHERE HE WAS STATIONED AT PRINCE RUPERT]. THEY WERE SITTING UP THERE WAITING F0R THE JAPANESE TO INVADE AND THEY HAD ALL THE GUNS OUT ON THE WEST COAST, BUT IT NEVER CAME TO BE,” VAN DEN BROEKE STATED.” WHEN ASKED WHY HIS FATHER DID NOT GO OVERSEAS, VAN DEN BROEKE SPECULATED, “PROBABLY BECAUSE HE WASN’T CONSCRIPTED UNTIL ’43. AT THAT POINT THEY THOUGHT THE JAPANESE WERE [A LARGE THREAT]. THEY PROBABLY ATTACKED PEARL HARBOR BY THEN, I WOULD IMAGINE. THAT’S WHEN THEY SET UP THE TROOPS ON THE WEST COAST. MY UNCLE WENT IN THE WAR PROBABLY IN ’39 WHEN IT STARTED, SO HE WAS PROBABLY CONSCRIPTED AND SENT OVERSEAS, AND THAT’S HOW HE ENDED UP IN ITALY.” “[ON THE OTHER HAND] I THINK MY FATHER WAS ACTUALLY CONSCRIPTED [TO JOIN THE WAR], BECAUSE HE WAS QUITE A BIT OLDER AND WHEN HE GOT INTO THE ARMY HE WOULD HAVE BEEN [AROUND HIS MID TO LATE THIRTIES].” “I WOULD SAY MY MOTHER [WAS THE PERSON MOST AWARE OF THESE ARTIFACTS OTHER THAN MY FATHER],” VAN DEN BROEKE CONTINUED, “PROBABLY THE FIRST TIME I’D SEEN IT [WAS AFTER] MY DAD PASSED AWAY IN ’67. [WHEN] I WAS ONLY NINETEEN, HE WAS IN A FIRE AT PARK LAKE. HE WAS THE WARDEN AT THE PARK LAKE PROVINCIAL PARK AND A GARAGE BLEW UP AND HE DIED JANUARY 1ST, 1968. SO AT THAT POINT MY MOTHER AND I MOVED FROM PARK LAKE TO PICTURE BUTTE. [I RECEIVED THE ITEMS] WHEN MY MOTHER PASSED AWAY IN ABOUT 1992.” SPEAKING ABOUT HIS FATHER’S EARLIER LIFE, VAN DEN BROEKE SAID, “HE WAS BORN IN HELLENDOORN, HOLLAND IN 1905 ON JANUARY 30TH. HE EMIGRATED TO MONARCH WITH HIS FATHER IN 1911. HIS FATHER WAS A BLACKSMITH IN MONARCH. PROBABLY ABOUT TWENTY-FIVE OR THIRTY [DUTCH IMMIGRANTS WERE HERE WHEN MY DAD’S FAMILY ARRIVED] AND THEY ALL SETTLED IN MONARCH. THAT’S WHY YOU HAVE THAT LITTLE CHURCH OUT THERE IN THE COUNTRYSIDE AT MONARCH. THAT WAS PART OF THEIR CHURCH, ALL MY AUNTS AND UNCLES, AND THEY’RE BURIED IN THE MONARCH/NOBLEFORD CEMETERY.” AS HIS UNCLE WAS KILLED IN ACTION DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR, VAN DEN BROEKE HAS SPECIFIC MEMORIES OF HIS FAMILY’S EXPERIENCE OF THE REMEMBRANCE DAYS AFTER THE WAR. HE SAID, “YEARS AGO I SENT THEIR PICTURES BOTH INTO THE HERALD WHEN THEY FIRST STARTED THAT REMEMBRANCE DAY [PUBLICATION]. I SENT BOTH THEIR PICTURES AND THEY’VE BEEN IN THE HERALD. [AND THAT’S WHY I WAS REMINDED TO DONATE THESE ITEMS TO THE MUSEUM] RIGHT NOW, AS WE JUST HAVE A WEEK TO GO [UNTIL REMEMBRANCE DAY].” A NOTICE PUBLISHED IN THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD STATES, “SON OF GEO. VAN DEN BROEKE OF MONARCH, GUNNER A. J. VAN DEN BROEKE, WHO IS SERVING WITH A BATTERY STATIONED AT THE WEST COAST. HE HAS A WIFE AND AN INFANT DAUGHTER, CHRISTINE LOUISE, RESIDED AT MONARCH, ALTA., ALSO A BROTHER OVERSEAS…” THE OBITUARY OF THE DONOR’S FATHER WAS PUBLISHED IN THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD. IT READS, “PASSED AWAY IN SUDDENLY IN THE CITY ON MONDAY, JAN. 1, [1968], GEORGE JOHN “GERRIT”, AGED 62 YEARS, BELOVED HUSBAND OF MRS. CHRISTINA VAN DEN BROEKE OF COALHURST. BESIDES HIS LOVING WIFE, SURVIVORS INCLUDE TWO SONS, GEORGE JOHN OF COALHURST, AND HENRY MARTIN OF RED DEER; ONE DAUGHTER, MRS. WALTER CHRISTINE LOUISE DUNN OF TURIN; ONE SISTER, RIKA NILSON… HIS STEPMOTHER MRS. JOHANNA VAN DEN BROEKE. THE LATE MR. VAN DEN BROEKE WAS BORN IN HOLLAND IN 1905 AND WAS RAISED AND EDUCATED IN MONARCH.” ACCORDING TO HIS SERVICE FILE, OBTAINED FROM THE LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES OF CANADA, GEORGE VAN DEN BROEKE ENLISTED ON NOVEMBER 6, 1942 UNDER THE NATIONAL RESOURCES MOBILIZATION ACT OF 1940. VAN DEN BROEKE WAS LISTED AS BEING A TRUCK DRIVER AT THE TIME OF HIS ENLISTMENT. VAN DEN BROEKE WAS STATIONED AS A GUNNER FIRST AT ESQUIMALT, BRITISH COLUMBIA, THEN AT VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA IN 1943 WITH THE 27, 28, AND 29TH REGIMENTS OF THE 44 AA BATTERY. GEORGE VAN DEN BROEKE WAS DISCHARGED ON MARCH 7, 1946 ON DEMOBILIZATION. PLEASE SEE PERMANENT FILE FOR MORE INFORMATION, INCLUDING FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTION, GEORGE VAN DEN BROEKE'S SERVICE RECORD, AND ARCHIVAL RESEARCH (UOFL ARCHIVES RECORD, COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION LETTER, AND LETHBRIDGE HERALD ARTICLES).

Catalogue Number

P20160038001

Acquisition Date

2016-11

Collection

Museum

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