A badge in the shape of a silkworm caterpillar, made of gold with two eyes set with precious stones — garnets in Kashmir colour, fastened with a safety clasp with a lock. On the reverse, an engraving reads “SGT. M. SKUBISZEWSKI”.
These badges, with the owner’s name engraved on the reverse, together with a special certificate and case, were awarded by the parachute manufacturer Irving Air Chute Company of Buffalo, New York, to airmen who made an emergency parachute jump from an aircraft using a parachute of their manufacture. They came in two versions — with red eyes, awarded to those who bailed out of burning aircraft, and with green eyes, for those who had to abandon the aircraft for other reasons.
This badge belonged to Sergeant (RAF Sergeant) Marian Skubiszewski, a radio operator of 305 Bomber Squadron “Land of Wielkopolska”, a crew member of the Vickers Wellington Mk II W5567, shot down by anti-aircraft artillery during a raid on Lübeck on 29 March 1942. The entire crew survived by bailing out with parachutes and were taken prisoner at Stalag Luft III in Żagań (Sagan).
