Lieutenant-Colonel Lockie Fulton
Royal Winnipeg Rifles

I don’t want to say its the most important thing to ever happen to me in my life, but I’m not sure what beat it … It certainly should be something that is studied and something that people always remember … We went into it knowing it was going to be the experiences of our lives, and that maybe we wouldn’t have it for too much longer.

(Quoted in Winnipeg Sun, 5 Jun 2004, 6)

Born on 31 March 1917 in Gladstone, Manitoba, Lockhart Ross Fulton was a farmer and member of the 12th Manitoba Dragoons since the age of 16. In 1940, he joined the Royal Winnipeg Rifles which went overseas in August 1941. After years training in England, Fulton was promoted to major landed on D-Day as commander of “D” Company. “It was something to see those bullets skipping at you like stones across the water,” he recalled on the fiftieth anniversary of the invasion. “I though it I jumped high enough. I might not get hit.”

For his actions in the assault on 6 June 1944 and in holding the position in subsequent days, he was awarded the D.S.O., later personally presented by Field Marshall Montgomery:

[W]ith outstanding gallantry and cold daring, his superb qualities of leadership and courage serving as an inspiration to the entire Bn and contributing largely to the successful advance inland … Fulton’s personal bravery, his complete disregard for his own safety and his coolness and skill in leading his company are considered to be in keeping with the highest traditions of the service.”

https://kingandempire.ca/video/major-lockie-fulton-on-d-day/

After Lieutenant-Colonel J.M. Meldram was evacuated in October 1944, Fulton took command of the RWR. By the time Fulton lead the battalion home in January 1946, only six original officers and twelve men still with the unit of the over 500 who landed on D-Day.

He chose not to pursue an army career and returned to his family farm in Birtle, Manitoba. He received the Order of Canada in 2004 and died on 21 October 2005.