Brigadier Bill Murphy
9th Armoured Regiment (British Columbia Dragoons)
1st Armoured Brigade

While his Brigade was serving in a British Corps, in an Army largely American this officer displayed outstanding powers of command and leadership, maintaining morale at a very high peak and dealing effectively with all matters of purely Canadian nature with which he confronted.

(O.B.E. citation, 16 Apr 1945)

Born on 27 April 1905 in Ashcroft, British Columbia, William Cameron Murphy was son of a BC Supreme Court justice, a lawyer and long-time militia officer. He had first joined an artillery battery at fifteen in 1920 and was commissioned with the British Columbia Regiment in 1927. On mobilization in September 1939, he transferred to the PPCLI to go overseas as a company commander. Following a posting back in Vancouver for home defence, Murphy was attached to 5th Armoured Division as a staff officer.

In May 1942, he replaced Lieutenant-Colonel J. Howard Larocque in command of the British Columbia Dragoons. Although with little direct experience in armoured tactics, over the next ten months, he set about improving discipline and training for the 9th Armoured Regiment. In March 1943, he was appointed chief of staff to the 5th Division headquarters. “The feeling of regret that has swept through the whole Regt …” the war diary declared, “is quite apparent with all ranks. We are more than sorry to lose him but everyone wishes him the best of luck and every success in his new duties.”

Major A.P. Ardagh took temporary command for the next month until the arrival of Major Harry Angle, a prewar militia officer and former second-in-command of the BC Dragoons. The 5th Armoured Division deployed to the Italy in December 1943.

In February 1944, Murphy succeeded Brigadier R.A. Wyman in command of the 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade, which included the Calgary, Ontario, and Three Rivers regiments. Murphy relished leading the independent formation, remarking, “A wonderful command. Like having a private army.” In support of Canadian, British, Commonwealth, and American forces, his brigade earned the admiration of all Allied armies in the Italian theatre.

He commanded the 1st Armoured Brigade, which could well claim to be the most active Canadian formation in the entire war, over the next year in Italy and finally in the liberation of the Netherlands. In addition to earning the Distinguished Service Order for heroically warning of an enemy attack in June 1944, the US Army awarded him the Legion of Merit:

Brigadier Murphy’s gallant part in the destruction and final surrender of the enemy in the Netherlanders inspired his troops, earned him the high regard of superiors and contributed in a marked degree to the Allied victory on the Continent.

With the end of the war, Murphy returned to his law firm and in the late 1950s served on the Vancouver police commission. One of the few Canadian non-permanent militia officers to rise to the rank of brigadier, he was appointed honorary colonel of the BC Dragoons in 1957.

He died of cancer on 20 October 1961 in Vancouver.