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World War 2 Mobile VAD Arm Band with embroidered badge (H=7cm, W=5cm)

This arm band and badges belong to my mother Winifred (Gayton) Taylor who, during WW2, served in the Mobile Detachment (Staffordshire 44) of the British Red Cross. Raised in the village of Wilnecote in Staffordshire and due for 'call up' for war service at age 18, her father suggested nursing as a way to put Winifred's caring skills to good use. To many women of that era, such opportunities, albeit at a time of national and international humanitarian crisis, proved liberating and life-changing: the chance to work in extremely challenging jobs and experience the world beyond home and village. As a mobile member, Winifred's postings included military hospitals at Catterick, Shrewsbury and Northfield. The badge symbolises not only the choice my mother made, but also how immense catastrophes shape individual lives in unexpected ways and alter expectations in succeeding generations.