NON-MILITARY PERSONNEL

War correspondents, together with personnel of the YMCA, Church Army, Broadcasting Unit and Cinema Unit, did not wear any badges of rank. The war correspondents carried a special badge, belonged to a class that was well known, and could fight their own battles; but the other personnel had a status that, while well enough known within 2 NZEF, was not clear to the staff of other forces. They ‘ranked’ as officers or NCOs, which was a bit obscure. The point became of more than academic interest when some members were made prisoners of war and found great difficulty in persuading the Italians or Germans that they were entitled to officer or NCO status. In the end we had a special card printed as an identity card for non-military personnel, giving details of their duties and of their equivalent military status. It appears that it would have been easier to have had all these people sworn in as ordinary members of the force, and so entitled to wear the normal badges of rank, instead of leaving them in an indeterminate position.