Lieutenant-Colonel G.Y. Masson
11th (Ontario) Tank Regiment

If we did something as pro-British as possible, such as adopting the Union Jack as the flag of Canada, we would be doing a much greater service to the empire. I feel the cause [of adopting a new national flag] could well be postponed until happier years.

(Masson in Windsor Star, 31 Jan 1939, 11)

Born in Detroit on 11 December 1895, George Yule Masson was an architect in Windsor, Ontario and a First World War veteran. Commissioned a lieutenant in Canada, he reverted to the ranks to go overseas as a gunner in 1917, and ended the war a cadet with the Royal Air Force. Until summer 1939, he was commanding officer of the Essex Regiment which had been re-designated at tank battalion in 1936.

Following recruitment duties at a depot in Windsor, Masson was appointed the new command officer of the Ontario Tank Regiment in December 1940, replacing fellow First World War veterans Lieutenant-Colonel E. Pearson and Major A.L. Tosland. The regiment along with the Canadian Tank Brigade left for England in June 1941. Masson commanded the until overseas until the end of October 1942 when he was replaced by second-in-command Major M.P. Johnston.

Masson returned to training and recruitment duties in Canada until retiring to civil life in September 1944 and resumed his architectural career. Now out of the military, he challenged the federal government to confront the reinforcement crisis, writing in November 1944:

When I was returned to training duties in Canada two years ago it was with a personal knowledge of the inadequacy of our reinforcements to meet calculated wastages … It was clear to me that the only answer to the reinforcement problem as it was outlined to me at Canadian military headquarters was conscription. That was two years ago and the situation now is apparently much worse.

That month, in response to mounted political and military pressures, the government began to send conscripts overseas.

Masson died in Windsor on 21 December 1982.