Necklace Home Guard

The Home Guard necklace is a very faithful miniature of the golden beret badge awarded to soldiers in the Home Guard. The idea for the necklace was already on the drawing board as a tribute to all the women and men who voluntarily practice, train and maintain territorial defense capabilities throughout Sweden in their free time.

History

In Sweden, the Riksdag had already established in 1624 that the population, both in cities and in the countryside, would defend their homeland in the event of war or the threat of war. This historical predecessor to the Home Guard was called Borgarbeväpning. However, the last remnant of this had been disbanded in 1870 when the military corps of the Stockholm bourgeoisie was disbanded.

The will to defend was strong and the government acted quickly. On 29 May 1940, the Riksdag decided to form a Home Guard. By then, Denmark and Norway had also fallen to the advancing German army in early April. The Home Guard would consist partly of young people who had not done their military service, and partly of older people who had exceeded the age of military service. It was expected that the Home Guard would comprise approximately 50,000 men, but a few weeks later the newly appointed Home Guard Chief Colonel Gustaf Petri was able to count on approximately 90,000 volunteer men.

Today, the Home Guard is part of the army and is part of the National Protection Forces. Its main task is to protect, guard and monitor the area. The Home Guard is also an important part of civil society's disaster preparedness and regularly participates in, among other things, the search for missing persons, forest firefighting and in floods and snow chaos. Units for the defense of entry points, naval tasks and intelligence gathering are also included.

Around the neck – always

In 2002, the Home Guard and the Army received their own beret badge. The Home Guard had previously used various different badges, such as the Home Guard service badge in gold as a beret badge for ceremonial duty. The beret badge m/02 Army is symbolized by two crossed swords over a wreath. The beret badge is also the generic beret badge worn by all army units that do not have their own beret badge. It is also worn by certain staff personnel at the Headquarters.

The Home Guard necklace is made of genuine silver and gilded with a durable layer of genuine gold.

• Dimensions: 18 x 18 mm (excluding ring)
• Materials: 925 sterling silver and 18k gold
• Construction: Solid casting