Lieutenant-Colonel H.S. Gamblin
5th Armoured Regiment (8th Princess Louise’s Hussars)

I was 17 years old at the time of my enlistment and therefore had to have the consent of my parents, which they reluctantly gave … I had discovered that anyone under the age of 18 would not be accepted for overseas duty. Therefore when the time came for my enlistment in the 4th Overseas Siege Battery, I gave my age as 18 and had no trouble about it.

(Gamblin interview, “Memories of WWI,” c. 1980)

Born on 21 December 1897 in Cody’s, New Brunswick, Harold Seymour Gamblin was a farmer, First World War veteran, and commanding officer of the 8th Princess Louise’s (New Brunswick) Hussars since 1938. He had served as a gunner and sergeant with an artillery battery in France until August 1918 when he was wounded by a shell explosion. After the war, he worked for the Soldier’s Settlement board and joined the militia.

His regiment mobilized as the 4th Canadian Motorcycle Regiment in summer 1940 before being converted to a tank unit in February 1941. Now redesignated the 5th Armoured Regiment, it departed for the United Kingdom under Gamblin’s command in October.

Troubled by a health problem, he relinquished command in May 1942. As Douglas How, author of the regimental history observed, “Sickness and time had caught up with him, just as they caught up again and again with so many of his breed—of the first world war who tried so hard to fight again.” He was replaced by Major George W. Robinson of the 1st Hussars.

Gamblin returned to New Brunswick where he headed cadet officer training at Mount Allison University. From 1943 to the end of the war he was attached to adjutant-general’s branch as head of the officer survey and appraisal board in Atlantic Canada.

He died on 17 March 1988 in Sussex, New Brunswick.