WW I Brass (covered in black tape) Binoculars. Etched underneath one of the pullout lens covers is : "E. WILLSON". Confirm type of Binoculars This soldier could possibly be #490310 Ernest WILLSON, 1st Pioneers who joined the CEF in 1916 in Vancouver, BC. The 80th Battalion became the 1st Pioneers with 1st Division; became the 9th Battalion Canadian Railway Troops. The 80th Battalion, CEF was an infantry battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the Great War. The 80th Battalion was authorized on 10 July 1915 and embarked for Great Britain on 20 May 1916. It provided reinforcements to the Canadian Corps in the field until 30 September 1916, when its personnel were absorbed by units of the 4th Canadian Division. The battalion was subsequently disbanded on 17 July 1917. Pioneer battalions differed from normal infantry in that they would be composed of a mixture of men who were experienced with picks and shovels (i.e. miners, road men, etc) and some who had skilled trades (e.g. smiths, carpenters, joiners, bricklayers, masons, tinsmiths, engine drivers and fitters). A Pioneer battalion would also carry a range of technical stores that infantry would not. This type of British battalion came into being with an Army Order in December 1914. A Canadian view: There is a difference between a Pioneer battalion and a Labour Battalion. Pioneers were Infantry, and only received recruits of A1 category. They provided a necessary function different than that of the standard Infantry Battalion. In the British Army the Pioneers received special training, received the pick of skilled (men with applicable trades) Infantry, and received extra pay. Canada had four labour Battalions in its Corps structure in France; these weren't pioneers. The Pioneers’ function was within the Division. They provided the extra man power to the Engineer Field Companies and skilled pioneer functions to the Infantry in the front line. In fact in the 1918 reorganization of the engineers the Pioneers were absorbed into the Divisional Engineer Brigades. It was the pioneers that built the dug outs, built the roads in forward areas, laid barbed wire entanglements, and were the power house in trench construction. Pioneers also were the ones who followed on the heels of the Infantry in the attack to fill trenches and build passable avenues for the guns to be brought forward.