Lieutenant-Colonel H.W. Rick
21st Armoured Regiment (The Governor General’s Foot Guards)

I know I have a tough job ahead of me, but if I receive the same measure of co-operation and loyal support in my new task as I have received here I shall be happy. History is now in the making. I shall do my best to contribute to it.

(Montreal Star, 2 Jan 1942, 2)

Born on 25 February 1897 in Montreal, Howard Wilfred Rick attended McGill University, where he joined the Canadian Officer Training Corps. He enlisted with the 148th Battalion in January 1916 and granted a commission the next year when he was seconded the Royal Flying Corps. After the First World War, he joined the Canadian Grenadier Guards and became second-in-command following mobilization in 1940. A broken back from a training accident forced him to relinquish this post but after a long recovery returned to duty as staff officer with Military District No. 4.

In January 1942, Rick succeeded Lieutenant-Colonel W.G. Wurtele in command of the Governor General’s Foot Guards, which would be converted to an armour unit. The re-designated 21st Armoured Regiment embarked for the United Kingdom in September 1942. “The journey across the Atlantic has been most interesting and I may say, most enjoyable to all ranks, Rick wrote, “despite the necessary restrictions that war imposes on us.”

Rick remained in command for another eleven months until he was succeeded by Major M.J. Scott in August 1943. At forty-six, he was deemed overage, but the change in command nonetheless came as a surprise to the Foot Guards who had expected to follow Rick into battle. He served out the war overseas in a training capacity and returned home in September 1945.

He died in 1971 and is buried in Danville, Quebec.