Second World War

Lt-Col. G-A. Turcot

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Lieutenant-Colonel Giles Turcot
Royal 22e Régiment
Turcot

People think soldiers are war-mongers. We’re not. We’re peace-makers.

(Turcot in Calgary Herald, 21 Oct 1972, 25)

Born in Quebec City on 9 December 1917, Gilles-Antoine Turcot was a hockey player and student at Laval University. He joined Les Voltigeurs de Québec in 1935 and mobilized with the 22nd Regiment four years later as a lieutenant. He served as a company commander during the invasion of Sicily, where wounded and evacuated. By late 1943, he was back in Canada training troops and promoted to lieutenant-colonel.

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Brig. J.V. Allard

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Brigadier J.V. Allard
Royal 22e Régiment
6th Infantry Brigade
Allard

Durant plus de 20 ans donc, Bernatchez et moi avions fait ce que nous avions pu. Je ne peux taire, cependant, que des centaines de nos compagnons de langue française, à tous les niveaux et dans toutes les situations, s’étaient aussi battus, en ordre dispersé. Plusieurs avaient abandonné; d’autres avaient choisi la voie périlleuse, à bien des égards, mais plus facile—surtout dans la marine et l’aviation—de l’anglicisation. La grande majorité des francophones qui avaient servi avaient pu constater que ces forces n’étaient pas les leurs.

(Allard, Mémoires, 407)

Born on 12 June 1913 in Sainte-Monique-de-Nicolet, Québec, Jean Victor Allard had been commissioned with the Régiment de Trois-Rivières since 1933. Following an exchange with the 4th London Yeomanry in 1941, he returned to Canada to be an instructor at the officer staff college in Kingston, Ontario. Insulted to passed over for promotion in the now anglicized Three Rivers Regiment, he transferred from the armoured corps to the infantry as second-in-command of the Régiment de la Chaudière.

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Brig. J.P.E. Bernatchez

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Brigadier Paul Bernatchez
Royal 22e Régiment
3rd Infantry Brigade
Bernatchez

Lieutenant Colonel Bernatchez, a Captain in the Royal 22nd Regiment on the outbreak of war, proceeded overseas in command of a company. His energy and enthusiasm and exceptional military knowledge resulted in his command in October 1941. Those same attributes are responsible for the high degree of discipline and morale of all ranks of his regiment.

(O.B.E. citation, 1 Jan 1943)

Born in Montmagny, Quebec, on 1 March 1911, Joseph Paul Emile Bernatchez was a graduate of RMC and one of fewer than fifty francophones in the Permanent Force prior to mobilization in 1939. In October 1941, at the age of only thirty, he succeeded Lieutenant-Colonel P.E. Poirier. As his two predecessors had been First World War veterans, this appointment signaled a changing of the guard of the francophone regiment. His over two years in command from training in the United Kingdom to the battlefields of Sicily and Italy represented an unusually long tenure for a battalion commander.

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Lt-Col. J.P.E. Poirier

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Lieutenant-Colonel J.P.E. Poirier
Royal 22e Régiment
Poirier

The case of this officer is one which it is rather difficult to deal with. He has a very pleasant personality, is very popular and has a splendid war record. Furthermore, when really sober is professionally capable. On the other hand, he seems quite incapable of withstanding the temptations of drink for more than a few weeks at a time, almost invariably lapses when it is really important that he should keep sober, his appearance has all gone to pieces and he seems unable to pass his promotion examinations.

(Brig. J.M. Prowse to adjutant-general’s branch, 7 Jan 1935)

Born in Thetford Mines, Quebec on 1 May 1896, Joseph Philippe Emile Poirier enlisted in the 22nd Battalion as a private and earned two Military Medals for bravery. Commissioned in June 1918, he joined in the Royal 22nd Regiment as part of the Permanent Force in 1920. He became second-in-command on mobilization in September 1939. After Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Flynn fell seriously ill in England and returned to Quebec in January 1941, Poirier took command of the regiment.

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Lt-Col. P. Flynn

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Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Flynn
Royal 22e Régiment
Flynn

Tuesday was bad for the Royal 22nd regiment, for in the course of war games now in progress south of Camp Borden the regiment’s whole headquarters staff became theoretical casualties in consequence of tank attacks.

(Leader-Post, 31 Aug 1938, 9)

Born in Quebec City on 13 December 1889, Georges Arthur Emile Percy Flynn was a lawyer and son of former Quebec premier Edmund James Flynn (1847–1927). Having served in England and Siberia during the Great War, he was appointed commanding officer of the 22nd Regiment in July 1938. The next month he took part in a war exercise at Camp Borden, where he and his entire headquarters were ambushed and “put out of action.”

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Lt-Col. W.T. Cromb

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Lieutenant-Colonel Bill Cromb
Lincoln and Welland Regiment
Loyal Edmonton Regiment
Cromb

My biggest day in the army came on Aug. 17, the day we closed the Falaise gap. I had just taken command of the Lincoln and Welland Regiment five days previously and we were ordered to take the town of Trun. We got into it without any trouble and captured more than 2,000 prisoners including a German major-general and his complete staff. Only one of our men was hurt … I wish the entire war had been that easy.

(Cromb in Edmonton Bulletin, 6 Oct 1945, 3)

Born in Glasgow, Scotland on 5 November 1903, William Taylor Cromb was an Edmonton vice-principal, president of the public school teachers association, and a popular tenor. A junior militia officer since 1937, he mobilized with the Edmonton Regiment in September 1939. He led a platoon in the Spitzbergen Raid in 1941 and commanded a company during the invasion of Sicily in July 1943.

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Lt-Col. J.R. Stone

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Lieutenant-Colonel Jim Stone
Loyal Edmonton Regiment
Stone

Persons who are not exposed to the bullets and shells in a slit trench situation or having to advance over open ground against a determined enemy should be very careful of using the words “cowardice,” “yellow,” and “malingerer.” Sooner or later, in those circumstances, we would all break down, some sooner than others.”

(Stone quoted in Copp and McAndrew, Battle Exhaustion, 70)

Born in Winterbourne, Gloucestershire, England on 2 August 1908, James Riley Stone immigrated to Alberta in the late 1920s and worked in a forestry camp. He volunteered as a private with the Edmonton Regiment on mobilization in September 1939 and went overseas as a lance corporal. He gained a commission in March 1942 and proved to be one of the battalion’s fiercest fighters in the Italian campaign.

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Lt-Col. R.C. Coleman

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Lieutenant-Colonel Rowan Coleman
Loyal Edmonton Regiment
Lincoln and Welland Regiment
Coleman

Rowan was, beyond doubt, one of the most liked and respected officers in the 2nd Brigade … Armed with only his pipe, he was completely unflappable, and always exuded a quiet confidence, no matter how desperate the situation … He was one of the few officers who went out of his way to show me the ropes and give me a little encouragement when I badly needed some help. Yet, he would not suffer gladly junior officers who didn’t measure up, or who groused about their problems.

(C. Sydney Frost, Once a Patricia, 424)

Born in Winnipeg on 22 June 1915, Rowan Corry Coleman, was son of the president of the Canadian Pacific Railway and a graduate of McGill University and Dalhouise law school. Commissioned with the McGill Officer Training Corps in 1940, he joined the PPCLI in the United Kingdom and served as a company commander during the invasion of Sicily in July 1943. Earlier that year, Coleman had been one of the Canadian officers attached to the British First Army in North Africa to gain combat experience fighting with the Royal Buffs in Tunisia.

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Lt-Col. E.W. Day

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Lieutenant-Colonel Ted Day
Loyal Edmonton Regiment
Day

I discussed Pte Crock’s difficulties with him at which time he told me that his nerves absolutely on edge and that he could not go forward to his Coy. position. I told him that I did not consider his reasons sound and said, “I am ordering you to join your Company if you do not go you will be guilty of an offence.” Pte Crock said, “I can’t do it Sir, I must refuse.” I then placed him under arrest.

(Day at FGCM of Pte. Crock, 12 Mar 1944)

Born in Toronto on 29 August 1901, Egerton Winnett (Ted) Day grew up in Daysland, Alberta where his father was founder and mayor. Having belonged to the Canadian Officers Training Corps at the University of Alberta, he joined the 19th Alberta Dragoons in 1924. He joined the Edmonton Regiment as a captain on mobilization in September 1939 and became second-in-command in the United Kingdom in December 1942.

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Brig. J.C. Jefferson

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Brigadier Jim Jefferson
Loyal Edmonton Regiment
10th Infantry Brigade
Jefferson

Jim Jefferson was not the “brass hat” type of Commander, and we can say that the men of his Regiment were really devoted to him, to the extent that they knew he would not send them into any kind of action that he would not take on himself. This feeling of confidence was frequently borne out during his various commands, from Company to Brigade. He was a fighting soldier who had the respect of officers and men at all times, and that says plenty.

(The Fortyniner, Jan 1974, 15)

Born in Northumberland, England on 6 January 1906, James Curry Jefferson joined the Edmonton Regiment in 1923, gained a commissioned four years later, and became a major in 1937. When General Bernard Montgomery inspected the battalion in early 1942, he had been unimpressed with the senior officers. Lieutenant-Colonel E.B. Wilson was removed along with several other older majors. Four months later, in December 1942, Jefferson succeeded Lieutenant-Colonel George Kitching, who had been brought in to “shakeup” the regiment.

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