Hamden Fire Retirees Association, Inc.

Staying Connected · Preserving Our Past

Home

COVID INFO

About Us

Hamden Local 2687

Hamden Historical Society

Hamden C.E.R.T.

C.E.R.T.

Calendars

Civil Defense

CT Apparatus Database

Hamden Then & Now

H.G.S.R.A.

Mountain Rescue Team

Off Duty Time

Parades

Public Education

Rosters

Sparking Out

Special Events

Training

Videos

We Remember

Web Links

1995 World Games

ALL PAST UPDATES

ALUMNI

APPARATUS

ARCHIVED ARTICLES

COMMUNICATIONS / DISPATCH

FIRE STATIONS

FIREFIGHTING

HFRA PHOTOS

HISTORICAL NOTES

MEMBERS ONLY

Hamden Firefighters and their Numbered Badges
No. 1 Was the Top Guy

Fire department badges everywhere sport certain insignia which designate the rank or position of the bearer.  In all departments, including Hamden's, lieutenants have one bugle (horn), captains have two, and chief officers have three, four or five (depending).  The insignia on a firefighter's badge is usually the traditional "scramble" or "cluster," consisting of a helmet, pike pole, axe, bugle, and ladder.
 
Hamden's fire officer badges have always had their bugles.  However, for nearly a half century the badges of Hamden's firefighters were numbered. When numbered badges were introduced in the early 1940s, the numbers only went as high as No. 20.  By the early 1980s, they went as high as No. 105.
 
You could usually tell how long a guy had been with the department by looking at his badge number - the lower the number, the greater the seniority. Every year or so as veteran firefighters retired, the Chief collected all the badges and then reissued them, with almost everyone receiving a lower badge number.  If no one ahead of you retired, you kept your present number.  New hires would eventually be assigned  the higher badge numbers that were collected from the previous group of rookies.
 
The most junior member of the department had the highest badge number, which, by 1982, was No. 105.  The most senior firefighter of the department always wore the coveted badge No. 1.
 
Joe Marchitto (AKA Joe Marcks) was Hamden's first firefighter to wear badge No. 1.  During the decades following Ff. Marchitto's retirement, the distinction of wearing badge No. 1 went to Firefighters Frank Nolan, Art Norman, Robert Reutenauer, Clem Kammerer, Walt Thomas, Mario "Bucky" Serafino, Wilbur Baker, Art Smith, Fred Fletcher, Dave Howe, and Hugh McLean.
 
After Ff. McLean retired in 1987, Hamden Fire Department badge No. 1 was assigned for the last time to Firefighter John O'Hare.  The badge was presented to O'Hare following his retirement on October 31, 1991.
 
Hamden's numbered badges disappeared shortly thereafter, when the department ordered new non-numbered generic shields that looked more like a cop's badge. Fortunately, HFD's badges were redesigned in recent years and now more closely resemble the original badges. But, alas, there are no numbers.

John O'Hare was the last holder of Badge No. 1
The only badge ever to be retired was No. 14.  The last man to wear it was Firefighter Alfred Ramelli, who passed away January 1, 1972 after having been stricken on duty on Christmas Eve 1971.
 
In addition to according well-deserved recognition to veteran firefighters, badge numbering had a practical advantage.  There was never a problem with lost badges. Whatever your badge number, you had to produce it when the Chief came to collect it for the next reissuing.
 
Those traditionalists among us fondly remember the days when a senior firefighter could take some tacit pride in his low badge number. After all, not everyone longed to have bugles on his badge - right?
 
Posted 5/4/12

 
Rich Maybury Still Looking for Badge No. 101!
 
Rich was the first Hamden firefighter to get that badge.  Hamden firefighters were assigned numbered badges from the 1940s until about 20 years ago when, for some reason, new non-numbered badges were distributed.  The lower your number, the higher your seniority.
 
If you have badge No. 101, Rich has No. 92 to trade.
 
Email Rich at oldcrowozzy@sbcglobal.net. 
 
Reposted 5/4/12

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

Unless otherwise cited or in the Public Domain,
all material on this website, including all original photos, essays, articles and commentary published herein, are Copyright © 2009-2021 by the Hamden Fire Retirees Association, Inc., and may not be copied or republished in whole or in part without prior written permission of the Hamden Fire Retirees Association, Inc.

Official website of the Hamden Fire Retirees Association, Inc.

Website powered by Network Solutions®