A WWII VAD nurse's cape, A WWII VAD nurse's cape, 1940s, belonging to Esme Kathleen Robinson of the Churchill Hospital, Headington, Oxford, of navy wool with scarlet lining decorated with 201 cloth formation signs and shoulder titles, together with memorabilia including Miss Robinson's Soldier's Service and Pay Book, Certificate of Enrolment, a VAD cloth badge, and a Needlecraft for HM Forces kit (qty.) Esme Robinson was born 27 August 1922 and enrolled as a British Red Cross nurse on 6 January 1943. Between June 1943 and May 1947, Esme worked as a VAD nurse at Churchill Hospital, Oxford, where she would have collected many of the badges that we find on her cape. The inside of the cape is decorated with 201 regimental badges, or formation signs, that were used by the army to easily identify a soldier's regiment and were given to Esme by the soldiers she treated as a sign of gratitude for her service. There are many stories of nurses competing to get the most formation signs from the soldiers they treated. All profits from this lot will be donated to the Royal British Legion.