New Publication by Major (retired) Harold A Skaarup: Canadian Expeditionary Force and Militia Cap Badges, York Sunbury Historical Society, Fredericton Region Museum Collection
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – March 1, 2025
FREDERICTON, NB – The Fredericton Region Museum is pleased to announce the release of Major (retired) Harold A Skaarup’s new publication Canadian Expeditionary Force and Militia Cap Badges, York Sunbury Historical Society, Fredericton Region Museum Collection. This impressive 1000-page publication features life-size images and precisely detailed reference information for over 800 military cap badges from the collection of the Fredericton Region Museum. It provides an easy reference for Canadian Expeditionary Force and militia badges worn by Canadian soldiers during the early years after Confederation, through to the end of the First World War.
In addition to full-colour illustrations of every badge, this book also includes brief summaries for the corresponding military units, along with each badge’s accession number (so to guide the reader to the specific artefact in the Museum’s collection). Unit records have been carefully extracted from the Library and Archives Canada Guide to Sources Relating to Units of the Canadian Forces, while a number of other reference works have also been consulted to help place the collection within historical context.
Major (retired) Harold A. Skaarup is a long-time museum volunteer and well-published military historian. Over the winter of 2024, he and fellow volunteer Major (retired) Doug Hall painstakingly documented and inventoried the Fredericton Region Museum’s cap badge and medal collection. “This book is meant to be an easy aide-memoir for those who come to visit our museum to view our military badge collection” the author explains. “I have often been asked questions from visitors, such as, ‘what kind of uniform did my grandfather wear, and where was he deployed in the Great War?’ You can look up the Battalion he served with here, and perhaps find a photo of the cap badge of the unit he served with, then use the Museum’s accession number to find and then view the real badge within our considerable collection of artefacts.” Hal (as he is known by many) is already working on a second publication, which will feature cap badges from the Second World War.
The Fredericton Region Museum boasts an impressive collection of cap badges and medals. Operated by the York-Sunbury Historical Society, our rich holdings date back over 90 years, to when the Society was first established in 1932. From the very outset, cap badges and medals occupied an important interest for local collectors, who through the years have generously donated their prized holdings to the museum. Of particular note are donations received from Major Frank A. Good, as well as his son G. Alvah Good, both of whom were First World War veterans and avid collectors of military memorabilia. Years later, more collections were received, including significant donations from Captain H. F. G. Woodbridge, Bryant Nevers, and Maurice Keith McLaughlin. Many of these badges are featured in this publication, and are also currently on exhibit.
The Fredericton Region Museum is open during the winter (Wednesday to Saturday, 1 – 4pm); extended summer hours will commence in June. To order your copy of Canadian Expeditionary Force and Militia Cap Badges, York Sunbury Historical Society, Fredericton Region Museum Collection, please visit the author’s website: Military History Books by Harold A Skaarup (https://bit.ly/4i5Vzzx).
For more information, please contact:
Alena Krasnikova, Executive Director
Fredericton Region Museum www.frederictonregionmuseum.com
Email: frederictonregionmuseum@gmail.com or phone 506-455-6041
The Fredericton Region Museum acknowledges the unceded and unconquered territory of Wəlastəkokewiyik / Wolastoqiyik. The Fredericton Museum, located in Ekwpahak | Fredericton, sits on lands designated by the Peace and Friendship Treaties of 1725-1779. These treaties did not deal in the transfer of land, rather they laid a foundation for what was to be an ongoing nation-to-nation relationship between the British Crown and Indigenous Peoples.
