LDF 'Local Defence Force' Brass Plaque

"After the Outbreak of World War II, During the Emergency 1939 – 1946. The LDF ‘Local Defence Forces’ was formed. My father Jerry (Jeremiah) Kavanagh born in 1928 joined his local branch in Co Laois in 1943 aged 15 years old. He was a member of the Ballypickas Platoon, in the Abbeyleix District. The attached brass plaque is one he won in 1944 with his section aged 16. What I think is amazing for the time is that each member of the Platoon got a plaque which was individually engraved. My understanding is the LDF later became the FCA Forsa Cosanta Aitiuil. "