Collector Cards

Children who had no access to actual military badges could collect cards of the badges instead.

Children who collected these cards could trade them, or use them to learn semaphore or as a bookmark.

This keepsake was published after the First World War by a children's magazine, and gave youngsters a place to keep souvenir cards picturing such subjects as the Battle of Vimy Ridge and Victoria Cross-winners Billy Bishop and Tom Dinesen.

Like other sets in the Fighting Forces series (and the World in Arms series on which it was based), this one featured naval vessels from Allied as well as enemy fleets: US battleship "Mississippi"; French battleship "Dunkerque"; British torpedo boat "Hornet"; Japanese destroyer "Fubuki"; Italian cruiser "Zara"; German submarine; US heavy cruiser "Indianapolis"; Spanish cruiser "Canarias"; motor torpedo boat; Japanese aircraft carrier "Akagi"; British battleship "Rodney"; Italian M.A.S. boat.

The manufacturers of the Fighting Forces gum card series, and the American World in Arms series on which it was based, applied the quaint term "iron cavalry" to the new mobile warfare.

A separate section of the Fighting Forces gum card series (and the American World in Arms series on which it was based) was reserved for a hodge-podge of different weapons: Flame Throwers; British Death-dealing Balloon Barrage; Landing Russian "Air Infantry"; The New Garand Automatic Rifle; British Portable Steel Air Raid Shelter; Gas Raid Rescue Squad; Stream of Torpedoes; Devastating Martin-Barlow Aerial Bomb.

These gum cards probably went into production very early in the Second World War - many of the airplanes featured had been removed service as obsolete by 1940, while others would eventually go through many variants: Republic Guardsman; Vickers Wellesley; Armstrong-Whitworth Whitley; Northrop 8A; Vought V-143; Supermarine Seagull V; Bell VFM-1; Curtiss Hawk III; Short Singapore III; Caudron C-670; Supermarine Stranraer; Lockheed Electra 10E; Sikorsky S-43; Boeing Stratoliner; Curtiss Y1A-18; Hanrive 510; Fairey FC; Grumann Midwing; Douglas TBD-1; North American Harvard; Northrop N-3; Saunder

Issued in 1939 using artwork from the American World in Arms series, the bilingual Fighting Forces series offered young card collectors a wide range of subjects, including military fortifications.

Issued in 1939 using artwork from the American World in Arms series, the Fighting Forces gum card series was printed in Canada with a bilingual element added.

These cards were distributed during the Second World War in packages of Golden Saratoga potato chips.