Lieutenant-Colonel G.R.H. Ross
5th Armoured Regiment (8th Princess Louise’s Hussars)

The success of a regiment is seldom accredited to its second-in-command, his job supposedly being whole administrative, but to Lt-Col Ross should go as much recognition as to any other who ever served with the unit … To the regiment Lt-Col. Ross has been more than just its second-in-command. He has been an integral part of the regiment that has profited so much by his judgement and decision and the regiment has been an integral part of him.

(The 8th Hussar, vol. 1, no. 2, Sept 1945, 11)

Born on 16 December 1904 in Woodstock, New Brunswick, George Robert Hay Ross was the long-serving second-in-command of the 5th Armoured Regiment. He had joined the Princess Louise’s Hussars in 1927, mobilized in July 1940 as second-in-command of “A” Squadron and became second-in-command of the regiment overseas in April 1942. Serving with the Hussars through the war, he finally took command in August 1945, succeeding Lieutenant-Colonel John W. Eaton.

During the Second World War, regimental seconds-in-command typically filled the administrative duties at battalion headquarters and remained in reserve during operations in case the commanding was wounded or killed. Ross, by contrast, “never even admitted that he had heard of the divisional order that ruled seconds-in-command to be ‘left out of battle.’” He made a point to visit the troops and carried out reconnaissance ahead of the tanks’ advance.

When Eaton left for a new appointment on 9 August 1945, Ross became acting commander until his promotion was confirmed on 25 August. After over three years as second in the regiment, Ross received a shower of “hearty congratulations” when he next appeared with a new pip on his epaulettes.

The regimental magazine, The 8th Hussar, produced while the troops awaited repatriation in the Netherlands, called Ross “the untiring ‘brains behind the scenes’ through the regiment’s bitterest campaign in Italy.” However, the tribute admitted Ross “who so ably filled the thankless job of second-in-command since April 1942, was always far from ‘behind the scenes.’”

The Hussars returned home for demobilization in January 1946. Ross commanded the reserve regiment until his death in Saint John on 6 January 1951.