Lieutenant-Colonel G. Carmichael
28th Armoured Regiment (B.C. Regiment)

The “search for talent” is still on. The ranks are being combed for “Officer Material.” There will be many of the Iron Dukes among the classes that graduate from Brockville with the King’s Commission in the weeks to come. Men who are young—men who are bright, are the ones that are needed.

(Cpl. T.J. Kennan, war diary, Mar 1942)

Born on 9 October 1893 in Newcastle, England, Gordon Carmichael was a banker and decorated First World War veteran. He had enlisted as a private in 1915, earned a field commission with the 7th Battalion in 1917, and then transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in 1918. He ended the war with a Military Cross for bravery and rejoined the British Columbia Regiment in the postwar militia. He assumed command in November 1939 when Lieutenant-Colonel H.E. Molson reverted in rank to join the PPCLI.

The regiment mobilized in May 1940 and converted to a tank unit of the Canadian Armoured Corps in early 1942. The reorganized 28th Armoured Regiment was nicknamed the Iron Dukes from the regiment’s moniker as Duke of Connaught’s Own. Prior to embarking for the United Kingdom from Nova Scotia, Carmichael was transferred back o the Pacific Command where he was appointed to command No. 1 Garrison Battalion and then served as commandant of Camp Nanaimo in 1944. Fellow decorated First World War veteran Major C.E. Bailey took the regiment overseas.

 Carmichael died on 20 February 1974 in Sechelt, British Columbia.