Parmjit presents local resident with Land Army Badge

Here Parmjit presents local resident, Mrs. Joan Davis, with her well-earned Land Army badge.


Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for Environment, announced the introduction of the a badge of recognition to female war veterans who worked on the Home Front to provide food and timber for the nation during the Second World War, in 2008.

The specially designed badge recognises the tremendous efforts of the Women’s Land Army and Women’s Timber Corps and acknowledges the debt that the country owes to them.

The Women’s Land Army and the Women’s Timber Corps, known colloquially as the Land Girls and Lumber Jills, worked on farms to feed the nation and fell timber, as the men went to war. At its peak in 1943 there were some 80,000 women working on the land, and it was continued after the war, finally being disbanded in 1950.

With their uniform of green ties and jumpers and brown felt slouch hats, they worked from dawn to dusk each day, milking cows, digging ditches, sowing seeds and harvesting crops. They supplied the nation with food, supporting the war effort and avoiding food shortages.

Parmjit said:

“The veterans have been campaigning for many years for recognition.  At the end of the Second World War it was decided that, as a civilian organization, service in the Women’s Land Army and Women's Timber Corps would not be recognized as service in the Armed Forces, so they were not entitled to a medal. 

I was delighted when the government changed their mind last year and introduced a medal for the land girls.  I would encourage anyone who thinks they’re entitled to the badge to apply for one.”

If you think you are entitled to a badge, application forms are available from Parmjit, please call 01452 311870.

Badges will be awarded to surviving members as of 6 December 2007. 

Badges cannot be awarded to spouses or families of deceased members except where death has occurred after 6 December 2007.