Page 102 - KBHA BULLETIN 6

Uniforms

Officers and auxiliaries wore uniforms on duty and tobacco-brown coat frocks were issued
for auxiliaries, skirts and tunics for the officers. These smart outfits, with their dark-brown

staunch hats with matching shoes and leather waist belts and sling bags, were a regular
sight on the streets of Kalk Bay and Muizenberg, especially every Saturday morning when

street collections were held. Rank was denoted by sky blue stripes on the shoulders. All
S.A.W.A.S. auxiliaries were issued with a special round badge of bronze with a protea

motif and the initials S.A.W.A.S./N.S. (national service) in English and Afrikaans. White

overalls were used in canteen service.

Primary activities

Auxiliaries were directed and trained in first-aid and home-nursing, in signaling, in camp

cookery, and in the maintenance and driving of cars and lorries. Knitting men’s socks in
khaki or navy blue was an added duty for the elderly and less active. “Socks for Soldiers”

was an organized knitting service in which the auxiliaries of Kalk Bay and Muizenberg
readily partook. This knitting included the making of sheep-skin jackets for men doing

bridge duty on ships, the making of new clothing and the remaking of worn garments for

survivors from torpedoed ships. There was also a Hospital Supplies and Comforts Section
which sent parcels to Britain and our troops "up north". These parcels included bandages,

dressings, pyjamas, dressing gowns, slippers etc.

After the fall of Tobruk in June 1942 it became very necessary to send as many food
parcels as possible to our prisoners-of-war. Kalk Bay S.A.W.A.S. undertook to help run

stalls once a week for the Food Parcels Fund at the Red Cross Market in Cape Town. Every

week a different branch would bring along for sale home and garden produce and
handiwork. Kalk Bay contributed, when it was their turn, pickled fish, curries, and a variety

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