Author: Matthew K Barrett

Brig. H.D. Graham

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Brigadier Howard Graham
Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment
1st Infantry Brigade
Graham

I gave him a concise history of our relationship as being cold, critical, harsh, and unfriendly on his part, and he seemed to have little or no understanding or appreciation of the problems to be faced by a commander in the field. My brigade was excellent, there was none better, we had accomplished everything asked of us. I then told him of the tongue-lashing Simonds had given me in front of my driver and signaller after an all-night, difficult, but successful move.

(Graham, Citizen and Soldier, 163)

Born in on 15 July 1898 in Buffalo, New York, Howard Douglas Graham was a lawyer and long-time militia officer with the Hasty Ps. He had enlisted with the 155th Battalion in March 1916 before serving as an orderly clerk in England and with Canadian Corps headquarters in France. He graduated from Osgoode Hall in 1921 and was later commissioned with the newly formed Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment. He served a term as mayor of Trenton, Ontario in 1933.

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Lt-Col. J.N. Edgar

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Lieutenant-Colonel Jimmy Edgar
Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment
Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry

He assumed command of the battalion after his commanding officer had fallen. Under very heavy fire he on three occasions personally supervised attacking operations in the front line. His cool courage and able leadership inspired those under him to do the good work achieved by them.

(Capt. J. Edgar, M.C. citation, 20 Sept 1919)

Born in Hartlepool, England on 15 May 1887, James Nesbitt Edgar volunteered with the PPCLI in August 1914, was commissioned from the ranks in June 1916, and became a captain at Passchendaele. He briefly took command of the regiment at Cambrai after all other officers were killed or wounded on 28-29 September 1918. He ended the war with the Military Cross and continued in the PPCLI with the Permanent Force.

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Maj-Gen. H.L.N. Salmon

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Major-General H.L.N. Salmon
Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment
7th Infantry Brigade
1st Canadian Division
Salmon

He was an outsider; Lt. Col. Harry Salmon, a Permanent Force soldier who might have been insulted by the order to take over a militia battalion. Certainly the regiment was grossly insulted by the appointment. Nevertheless, this man possessed the catalyst which was needed to transform the magnificent promise of the Regiment into reality. He knew the way, and he was ruthless.

(Farley Mowat, The Regiment, 74)

Born in Winnipeg on 9 February 1894, Harry Leonard Nowell Salmon fought in the trenches at the Somme and Courcelette, earning the Military Cross. He had enlisted with the 68th Battalion from Regina as a lieutenant in November 1915 and joined the 28th Battalion as a reinforcement officer in France in July 1916. Following a gunshot wound in September, he returned to the field just before Passchendaele.

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Lt-Col. S. Young

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Lieutenant-Colonel Sherm Young
Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment

… Canadians fought like demons. Pte. Young said he had no idea he would come out alive, but he fought on until taken prisoner. His left hand was very badly wounded but the Germans took little care of that. He saw over twenty wounded Canadians, who were lying on the ground, killed by the Germans. After he was taken back from the firing line he was better treated, and the German doctors did everything possible for his hand. He is very enthusiastic about the ability of these doctors.

(Weekly British Whig, 9 Dec 1915, 3)

A farmer born in Athol, Ontario on 8 October 1894, Sherman Young enlisted with the Canadian Expedition Force as a private in September 1914. He fought with the 2nd Battalion at the Second Battle of Ypres, where he was gassed, shot in the hand, and captured. After six months interned as a prisoner of war, he was exchanged and repatriated in October 1915. Undeterred, Young re-enlisted as a lieutenant in the 155th Battalion, but his deformed hand precluded active service.

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Maj. F.G.C. Darton

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Major Frank Darton
Royal Canadian Regiment
Darton

Frank is the best argument I know for those who doubt the quality of Canada’s peacetime soldiers as compared to the gallant amateurs they trained and led into battle.

(Rev. Rusty Wilkies quoted in G.W.S. Brodsky, God’s Dodger, 271)

Born in Kent, England on 29 November 1904, Frank Graham Chalklen Darton had been belonged to the RCR since 1922 and served as regimental sergeant-major on mobilization. Following instructional duties in Canada he received a commission and later a promotion to major overseas. He commanded the headquarters company and filled in as acting commanding officer of the regiment at times in the Italian theatre.

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Lt-Col. W.W. Reid

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Lieutenant-Colonel Bill Reid
Perth Regiment
Royal Canadian Regiment
ReidWW

Bill Reid proved to everyone in the regiment that he wasn’t the kind of battalion commander who directs his men from well out of the line of fire. He was up there on the crest, right in the thick of it with the rest … For his bold and determined leadership for the regiment’s unexcelled performance in the Gothic Line, Reid won for himself and the regiment the second highest battlefield award, the Distinguished Service Order. We were pretty damn proud of him, and pretty damn proud of ourselves too, for what we’d accomplished.

(Stanley Scislowski, Not All of Us Were Brave, 271)

Born in Charlottetown, PEI on 1 February 1913, William Wright Reid was an all-round sportsman and militia officer with the PEI Highlanders. He transferred to the Princess Louise Fusiliers in July 1942 to be second-in-command and succeeded Lieutenant-Colonel H.S. Robinson in July 1943. The motorized infantry battalion was then re-designated 11th Infy Bde Support Group which deployed to Italy alongside the 5th Armoured Division in late 1943.

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Lt-Col. J.W. Ritchie

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Lieutenant-Colonel Jim Ritchie
Royal Canadian Regiment
RitchieJW

I do hope that this miserable Canadian conscription business will not affect your fighting strength … the fighting on all our fronts looks pretty sticky just now … I have called you Jim because I feel that your father would wish it and because I have called practically every C.O. by their Christian name since I left the Regiment.

(Col. C.H. Hill to Ritchie, 4 Dec 1944)

Born in Toronto on 8 July 1908, James Weldon Ritchie was commissioned with the RCR in 1935 and served on the Royal Military College staff. After going overseas in 1941, he attended the War Staff College at Camberley, England and joined the Staff Officers Training School. Promoted to lieutenant-colonel in August 1943, he received an opportunity for frontline command in Italy when he replaced Lieutenant-Colonel W.W. Mathers of the RCR in June 1944.

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Lt-Col. W.W. Mathers

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Lieutenant-Colonel Bill Mathers
Royal Canadian Regiment
Mathers

… when Bill Mathers got wounded an amusing situation developed. Mathers was standing out in the open pointing here and there as he gave out some orders. Sandy cautioned him about snipers, but he took no notice. All of sudden, Wham! and he got the slug through the upper right arm. Fortunately he had just turned on his heel at the time or he would probably have got it through the heart.

(Strome Galloway, Some Died at Ortona, 193)

Born in New Westminster, British Columbia on 11 October 1910, William Whelan Mathers was a University of British Columbia graduate and Permanent Force officer, commissioned with the RCR in 1936. He went overseas with the regiment in December 1939 but immediately transferred to staff and instructional duties in England. Having belonged to the Officers’ Training Corps at UBC, Mathers became chief instructor at the Officer Cadet Training Unit (OCTU) in Camp Bordon, Sussex.

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Maj. A.S.A. Galloway

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Major Strome Galloway
Royal Canadian Regiment
Galloway

By then, many more Royal Canadians had learned how to die; but fortunately many others, including myself, had learned how to live—or at least how to reduce the odds on dying. Sicily wasn’t all death in the sun, but it was an adventure for all. For me, it was my second campaign. Except for the CO, whose untimely death removed him from the scene 14 days after the landing, I was the only member of the battalion who had been in a battle.

 (Strome Galloway, The General Who Never Was, 143)

An exceptionally courageous infantry officer, a prolific and opinionated writer, and a stylish moustache aficionado, Andrew Strome Ayers Carmichael Galloway was perhaps the most interesting and colourful character in the Canadian Army during the Second World War. Born in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, on 29 November 1915, he was a prewar militiaman, amateur poet, and newspaper editor. Having joined the RCR just before the start of the war, he went overseas in December 1939.

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Maj-Gen. D.C. Spry

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Major-General Dan Spry
Royal Canadian Regiment
1st & 12th Infantry Brigades
3rd Canadian Division

During the war, one of the big lessons I learned was that it was possible to bring together soldiers or sailors or airmen from every part of Canada, from every walk of life, every religion, every political viewpoint, and make them over into platoons, divisions, and corps, etc., and somehow or other, under proper leadership, they would fight as well as any other soldiers anywhere at any time. Perhaps we were all striving for something, some common objective.

(Maj-Gen. Spry to Boy Scouts’ Canadian General Council, June 1946)

Born in Winnipeg on 4 February 1913, Daniel Charles Spry was the son of a First World War colonel and the prewar army director of personnel. After dropping out of Dalhousie University, he followed his father in a Permanent Force career in 1933 and earned a commission in the RCR. On mobilization in September 1939, Spry was promoted captain and soon became the regimental adjutant. After two years in England, aside from the brief foray to France in June 1940, Spry left the RCR to the staff of 1st Canadian Division headquarters.

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