Lieutenant-Colonel Swatty Wotherspoon
29th Armoured Regiment (South Alberta Regiment)

There are many of us here tonight who wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Swatty (Gen. Wotherspoon). He was respected because he didn’t make mistakes that cost people’s lives.

(Col. Coffin, Edmonton Journal, 5 Aug 1980, 22)

Born in Port Hope, Ontario on 12 January 1909, Gordon Dorward de Salaberry Wotherspoon was a graduate of RMC and Osgoode Hall. A lawyer in civilian life, he also belonged to the Governor General’s Horse Guards, which went overseas as the 3rd Armoured Regiment in late 1941. While the Horse Guards prepared to deploy to Italy, Wotherspoon was promoted to command the 29th Armoured Regiment (South Alberta Regiment) in May 1943.

Replacing Lieutenant-Colonel W.P. Bristowe, the Ontario officer met a cool reception with the Alberta Regiment. One officer remarked in a letter:

Our new Colonel is turning out a dud and it is disappointing as we thought he knew his stuff, but he has made himself thoroughly disliked by all of us by trying to do everything at once and getting them all half done instead of one at a time. We get all hitched up and everything is in a turmoil, whereas with old Bill we got the training done with half the effort.

Wotherspoon nevertheless proved an effective trainer and a strong commander once the 29th entered the Normandy campaign in July 1944. Second-in-command Major Bert Coffin stated, “We didn’t know what to expect but after having survived the fact that we had a Toronto lawyer commanding us, we figured that there wasn’t much else we couldn’t survive.

He earned the Distinguished Service Order for his leadership of a task force during the battle of Falaise:

During the entire period Lt-Col Wotherspoon maintained complete control of his forces, reorganizing and re-siting his defences to met every attack successfully. He visited all his posns personally many times under hy mortar and shell fire. The example set by this offt, the skill with which he deployed the limited resources at his comd and his complete disregard for personal safety undoubted resulted in the prevention of any breakthrough by the enemy.

He led the regiment throughout the Northwest Europe campaign until his elevation to temporary command of 4th Armoured Brigade in July 1945. Although the SAR were led home by Major T.B. Nash, Wotherspoon made a point of returning on the same transport. For a commanding officer who had overcome regional skepticism from the troopers, he observed:

I think westerners are tops as soldiers. I don’t know just how to account for it … At any rate it makes for a combination of initiative plus intelligence that is unbearable … Many times I asked the regiment to do things that seemed military impossible but they always came through.

Back home, he resumed his law practice and business interest but remained involved in military affairs. He served as colonel commandant of the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps from 1967 to 1973. In addition to philanthropy and political fundraising, he joined the Eaton Company and retired as chairman of the board in 1981.

He died in Toronto on 29 November 1988.