Lt-Col. H.T. Kempton

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Lieutenant-Colonel H.T. Kempton
South Saskatchewan Regiment
Kempton

So again passed another of the original officers of the regiment into higher army service. He, like Lt.-Col. Wright, seemed to be a very part of the flesh and blood of the unit. He was keenly disappointed on not going into “action” with the men with whom he had trained from the beginning.

(Maj. G.B. Buchanan, The March of the Prairie Men, chap. 4)

Born on 1 January 1895 in Barking, Essex, England, Harold Thomas Kempton owned a bookstore in Weyburn, Saskatchewan with his brother since 1912. He served in the Royal Air Force during the First World War and joined the Weyburn Regiment afterward. By the outbreak of the Second World War, Kempton was a major in the amalgamated South Saskatchewan Regiment. He led the advance party overseas in August 1940 before the rest of the battalion followed in December.

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Lt-Col. C.C.I. Merritt

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Lieutenant-Colonel Cecil Merritt
South Saskatchewan Regiment
Merritt

My war lasted six hours. There are plenty of Canadians my age who went all the way from the landings in Sicily to the very end … It was an enforced idleness. It cannot be escalated into virtue.

(Quoted in Ottawa Citizen, 3 Sept 1966, 66)

Born on 8 November 1908 in Vancouver, British Columbia Charles Cecil Ingersoll Merritt was an RMC graduate, football player, and barrister. Since 1929, he was a commissioned officer in the Seaforth Highlanders, the regiment his father had belonged to before being killed at Second Ypres in April 1915. Merritt went overseas as a major, attended staff college, and served on the general staff of the 3rd Division. In March 1942, he was appointed new commanding officer of the South Saskatchewan Regiment, which would land at Dieppe over four months later.

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Brig. S. Lett

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Brigadier Sherwood Lett
South Saskatchewan Regiment
4th Infantry Brigade
Lett

And this is the man I first saw one rainy day in the First World War, welcoming us to a rat-infested land of death and destruction. Sherwood Lett, an ordinary Canadian officer in 1915, has come a long way … Surely, here is one Canadian who has had, and is still having a full life. As a politician, he might well have been a Prime Minister of Canada.

(Jim Greenblatt, Star-Phoenix, 10 Aug 1963, 15)

Born on 1 August 1895 in Iroquois, Ontario, Sherwood Lett was a University of British Columbia graduate, a decorated First World War veteran, a Rhodes Scholar a t Oxford, and a lawyer in Vancouver. He had served as a captain with the 46th (Saskatchewan) Battalion in France and earned the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry under heavy fire. Commanding officer of the Irish Fusiliers from 1932 to 1937, Lett volunteered again and went overseas as brigade major with the 2nd Canadian Division.

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Lt-Col. J.E. Wright

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Lieutenant-Colonel J.E. Wright
South Saskatchewan Regiment
WrightJE

Lt.-Col. Wright had been the admired leader and valued friend of every last man in the unit. He knew them all by name and background, and his sense of impartial discipline was greatly respected. One unknown soldier made the fitting remark “When God made a man, he made Lt.-Col. Wright.”

(Maj. G.B. Buchanan, The March of the Prairie Men, chap. 3)

Born on 30 December 1898 in Carnduff, Saskatchewan, James Ewart Wright was a dentist and First World War veteran. He had enlisted with the 78th Battalion in November 1915, served in France in 1916 until transferred to England in 1917, and ended the war as a cadet training with the Royal Air Force. He attended Regina College after demobilization then graduated from the University of Toronto with a dentistry degree. He opened a practice in Estevan where he also became commanding officer of the Saskatchewan Border Regiment.

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Lt-Col. R.L. Rutherford

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Lieutenant-Colonel Dick Rutherford
Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders
RutherfordRL

Dickie Rutherford, commanding “A” Company came back and he was wounded and he was laughing … He said he and the sergeant-major had had a little bet as to who was going to be back in England in a hospital first. And here he was walking back with his fingers shot off!

(Norman Ross interview, 16 Aug 1979)

Born in Shrewsberry, England in March 1916, Richard Lewis Rutherford a graduate of the University of Manitoba and commissioned with the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders since 1936. He served as aide-to-camp for Major-General Victor Odlum of 2nd Canadian Division in 1940 before returning to Canada for staff officer work with the Pacific Command. He rejoined the Camerons and served as a company commander during the Normandy campaign.

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Lt-Col. E.P. Thompson

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Lieutenant-Colonel Tommy Thompson
Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders
ThompsonEP

A quick learner, quick at grasping new ideas. Very industrious and preserving; a hard quiet worker. Polite, conscientious in fulfilling obligations, helpful and considerate of other general liked. Has a well balanced and equable temperament. Has a very good knowledge of all arms and gets well in the tactical picture and makes sound appreciations and decisions.

(Final Report on Capt. Thompson, 19 Dec 1942)

Born in Winnipeg on 8 January 1921, Ernest Payson (Tommy) Thompson was a medical student at the University of Manitoba when he enlisted with the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada, having been a cadet of the unit as a teenager. Although regarded as too young to go overseas, the young lieutenant nevertheless joined the battalion before it embarked and arrived in England before to his twentieth birthday.

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Lt-Col. A.S. Gregory

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Lieutenant-Colonel Allan Gregory
Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders
Regina Rifle Regiment

Lt-Col Gregory was what is known as a “cool turkey”, his coolness under fire was remarkable to watch. His loss will be keenly felt by both his unit and ourselves. We understand his wound is not serious and he may be back before long.

(Iron Brigade News, 30 Aug 1944)

Born on 23 December 1915 in Battleford, Saskatchewan, Allan Stuart Gregory was a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan, lawyer, and the son of Liberal MP John Gregory. He enlisted with the Regina Rifles in 1940 and went overseas as a lieutenant in August 1941. After a series of promotions, he was battalion second-in-command during the D-Day landings of 6 June 1944. He served with the Regina Rifles through the Normandy campaign until appointed commanding officer of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders on 12 August 1944.

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Maj. C.W. Ferguson

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Major Bill Ferguson
Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders
Ferguson

Hugh Young, the brigadier, had assured me that I’d have Ferguson for three months, at least three months in action, guaranteed … This guy, Hugh Young, had salted away as brigade major my 2 i/c. Three months in action? To hell with it, two days in action!

(Ross interview, 20 July 1979)

Born on 19 April 1916 in Mortlach, Saskatchewan, Clarence William Ferguson was an insurance agent in Winnipeg, commissioned as a lieutenant with mobilization in September 1939. He went overseas in March 1940 to attend the war staff college at Camberley, England. Now a captain, he returned to Canada for further staff training at the Royal Military College in summer 1942. While back home he married the daughter of former Cameron commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh Mackenzie. Ferguson reverted from the rank of major to go back overseas in December 1943.

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Lt-Col. J. Runcie

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Lieutenant-Colonel Jock Runcie
Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders
Runcie

The officers discussed whether to fight to the last man and the last round, or to surrender in order to prevent further loss of life; and as it seemed clear that no further damage could be done to the enemy it was unanimously decided to surrender … “we chucked our weapons down and called it a day.”

(C.P. Stacey interview Runcie, 11 Dec 1942)

Born on 28 September 1907 in Cullen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, John “Jock Runcie worked for the Hudson’s Bay Company in Winnipeg. As captain in the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada, he served as “D” Company commander during the Dieppe Raid of 19 August 1942. He landed alongside Lieutenant-Colonel Alf Gostling, who was immediately killed on stepping ashore. Left behind on the beach after the evacuation, Runcie made a final stand with Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Merritt of the South Saskatchewan Regiment before being forced to surrender. “All around, it was quite a show,” Runcie said.

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Lt-Col. N.H. Ross

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Lieutenant-Colonel Norman Ross
Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders
RossNH

Its all very well when you’re sitting down at your leisure reading it page by page and getting somebody else’s opinion two weeks later and comparing this and comparing that. But in the confusion of battle and everything that’s going on and trying to put it together … Bang, bang, bang … Much more difficult.

(Ross interview, 20 Jul 1979)

Born on 5 June 1915 in West Kildonan, Manitoba, Norman Hugh Ross attended the University of Manitoba and worked for an insurance company in Winnipeg. Having belonged to the Cadet Officer Training Corps at university, he took a commission with the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders before the war. He led the advance party of the regiment to England in June 1940 and became company commander overseas after the removal of many overage senior officers. “By this time the glamour of their ribbons and their World War I experience had worn off,” Ross said. “And they had out served their usefulness really.”

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