Lieutenant-Colonel J.R. Hopkins
14th Canadian Hussars

It was when I was an observer and we were being attacked by a German aircraft. My piloted manoeuvred us into a position where I could use my rear gun. The German plane burst into flames and we saw a man fall out with his clothes all burning … I was very pleased it was him and not us.

(Times Colonist, 14 Feb 1976, 47)

Born on 26 October 1886 in London, England, John Richard Hopkins was a Saskatchewan lawyer and decorated veteran of the Royal Flying Corps. A law student in Swift Current before the First World War, he had enlisted with the Royal Canadian Dragoons in September 1914, took a commission with the 18th Royal Scots in 1915 and transferred to the air force in 1916. As an observer and pilot he earned the Distinguished Flying Cross.

He started a law practice on return to Saskatchewan and settled in the town of Climax. He joined the 14th Canadian Light Horse and became commanding officer in 1936. The cavalry regiment mobilized as the 14th Canadian Hussars in 1940 but converted to an armoured car unit. In March 1941, it was merged with other units in England to form the 8th Reconnaissance Battalion (14th Canadian Hussars) under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Churchill Mann.

Hopkins commanded the Armoured Corps reinforcement unit in the United Kingdom until his return to Canada in June 1942. He took up duties as a court martial president for Military District No. 12 (Regina). He went overseas again in summer 1944 to act as returning officer of soldier vote in the Mediterranean theatre during the provincial election. “It was a political appointment,” Hopkins recalled of his duties touring Italy.

All four of his sons served in uniform. On 1 July 1944, twenty-four-year-old Lieutenant Hugh Hopkins was killed in Italy fighting with the 11th Armoured Regiment. After returning to court martial duties at home, Hopkins retired from the army in March 1945.

Of his experiences through two world wars, at the age of ninety, he told the press, “I’m really just an average person nobody extraordinary.” He died in Victoria, British Columbia on 30 December 1976.