Patch Trader Andy

The little guy in the picture shown here is the symbol of Explosive Ordnance Disposal in Northern Ireland.

The story of "Felix" begins in the early 1970's when Northern Ireland was being torn apart by terrorism and, as mentioned in other sections of this website, the members of Royal Army Ordnance Corps were kept busy making safe numerous explosive devices. Terrorists had hoped to break the will of both the long suffering population and our government and in doing so force their misguided aspirations onto the people however they had a formidable enemy in the guise of the little cartoon cat named "FELIX"!

I am unsure of the exact chain of events however the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit was operational in Northern Ireland from 1969 when all "shouts" were responded to by a single Captain and his Warrant Officer assistant. As the incidents requiring the attendance of  E.O.D. increased I believe the initial radio callsign allocated to the Unit was "Jellybaby" however this was soon replaced by the R.A.O.C. Callsign "Rickshaw".

The next step was that it was to be "Phoenix" however when this was taken to be "Felix" be a radio operator the name stuck and the legend of FELIX was born as this callsign was allocated to all E.O.D. operators in Northern Ireland from 1971.

In 1974 the R.A.O.C. commissioned 2 silver table pieces to be displayed in the Officers Mess and Sergeants Mess on official occasions. They were called "Felix" and show an armoured knight battling alone with a dragon.

The cartoon character came originally from a series of brief  cartoons which were drawn by a soldier about his day to day experiences at the height of what has become known as "The Troubles" during the early 1970's however he has only changed very slightly in appearance since those early days and can now be seen on vehicles, equipment, buildings in fact almost everything connected with E.O.D. in Northern Ireland.

It is sad to say that unfortunately he appears on a memorial stone which shows the names of all those operators who were murdered while performing their duty in an attempt to save the lives of others.

 

     

         FELIX FROM THE PAST AND AROUND THE WORLD.

            

Although originally representative of E.O.D. exclusively in Northern Ireland the world is a fast moving place and with the necessity of deployment of  E.O.D. troops to various theatres "Felix" is appearing on tie tacs (Little metal pin badges) as well as T-Shirts and Zippo lighters etc representative of the home base of various Detachments of their deployments so look out for the little character in the following guizes:-

                                     

 Old Felix Plaque   Portadown Team   Tracksuit Badge   Armagh Team    Current Plaque   Holywood Team

 

521 Squadron - Wearing a Scottish tartan Glengarry cap

621 Squadron - Air Force goggles, moustache and flying helmet                             

821 Squadron - Helmet and resperator

921 Squadron - First World War German helmet on map of Germany

There are also pins representative of various E.O.D. Qualification courses such as "Saton Force" and "Roman Edge" while deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq are also represented.

If you are interested in trading E.O.D. related badges please visit the "E.O.D. Badges For Trade" section where I have a list of what is available as well as illustrations of some of the Detachments mentioned above..                                                                   

Trade with Andy - It's not the biggest decision you will

ever make but possibly one of the best !!

                                                

These Two Pins Are Available For Trade - Support Our Troops In The War On Terrorism In Afghanistan And Iraq!

                                  

 

 

Dander@btinternet.com