22nd Armoured Regiment

Lt-Col. C.A. Greenleaf

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Lieutenant-Colonel Curt Greenleaf
22nd Armoured Regiment (Canadian Grenadier Guards)

The more Mr. Colonel drank, the redder, the braver and the more insolent he became. After 30 or 40 minutes Greenleaf was raining “machine gun fire” on the neighbouring tables. “Ta-ta-ta-ta—I hate you—Ta-ta-ta-ta—We’ll shoot you all, we’ll destroy you,” Mr. Colonel howled across the hall, squeezing the imaginary trigger.

(Izvestia quoted in “Current Digest of the Soviet Press,” 1965, 21)

Born in Montreal in 1916, Curtis Alden Greenleaf gave up a new job as a banker when he joined the Canadian Grenadier Guards in September 1939. He secured a commission when the unit mobilized for active service in June 1940. He went overseas with an advance party in May 1942 and became adjutant a year later. He was the only original officer to serve throughout the Northwest Europe campaign and earned the Military Cross for “personal courage and unshakable determination.” When Major E.A.C. Amy took over from the wounded Lieutenant-Colonel H.A. Smith in February 1945, Greenleaf rose to second-in-command.  

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Lt-Col. E.A.C. Amy

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Lieutenant-Colonel Ned Amy
22nd Armoured Regiment (Canadian Grenadier Guards)

Ned and I were still writing frequent letters and in one memorable letter he proposed marriage. Since he wrote the letter while lying under his tank, I assumed that he may have been feeling depressed and might later regret his proposal; so I decided to ignore the offer. Ned was very amazed, as he was deadly serious.

(Jean Amy quoted in John Gardam, Canadians in War and Peacekeeping, 92)

Born on 28 March 1918 in Newcastle, New Brunswick, Edward Alfred Charles Amy joined the Canadian Armoured Crops following graduation from RMC in 1939, even through he was initially told he was too short for the army. He served in Sicily and Italy as a squadron commander with the 14th Armoured Regiment and earned the Military Cross at Moro River. In early 1944, Brigadier R.A. Wyman of 1st Armoured Brigade and other veteran officers from the Italian campaign including Amy and Major H.A. Smith of 11th Armoured Regiment returned to England in preparation for the invasion of France.

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Lt-Col. H.A. Smith

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Lieutenant-Colonel Snuffy Smith
22nd Armoured Regiment (Canadian Grenadier Guards)

I guess we were told the order of battle and where the enemy were and so on but when you get into these things they get so hit and miss and the confusion reigns supreme. You can tell people where to go and so on [but] then when somebody starts to shoot and then they forget about something and do something else. Looking back it always seemed it was more chance than good fortune that things happened.

(Smith interview, 1981)

Born on 21 January 1920 in Dauphin, Manitoba, Hershell Allister Smith joined the Armoured Corps following graduation from RMC in December 1939. Six months later he transferred to the 11th Armoured (Ontario) Regiment. Following training in England, he served a combat tour in North Africa with the 17th/21st Lancers for two months in early 1943. He took command of “C” Squadron in the Ontario Tanks at the end of the Sicily campaign and earned the Military Cross at Ortona in December 1943.

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Lt-Col. W.W. Halpenny

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Lieutenant-Colonel Bill Halpenny
22nd Armoured Regiment (Canadian Grenadier Guards)

We as manufacturers should not look at them (trade unionists) as the gestapo. We should become leaders. The labor man needs a little leadership. He needs a square deal … We’re better to have our laws and contracts lenient toward them. It’s when you stary to curb them we’ll find the type of though that isn’t Canadian.

(Windsor Star, 29 May 1947, 6)

Born in Winnipeg on 14 November 1909, William Walton Halpenny first joined the Fort Garry Horse as a cadet officer in 1927. With the outbreak of the Second World War, he was selected for a tank training course in England. He rejoined the Fort Garries, soon to be converted to the 10th Armoured Regiment, and went back overseas in 1942. In November, he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel of the Canadian Armoured Corps reinforcement unit and by September 1943 had been appointed new commanding officer of the 22nd Armoured Regiment (Canadian Grenadier Guards).

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Maj. H.C. Griffith

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Major Griff Griffith
22nd Armoured Regiment (Canadian Grenadier Guards)

At this time the tank man’s black beret became our official head-dress and “Griff” was determined that the Grenadiers would wear it properly. Each morning he would issue the command – “Check berets!” … It was a small thing but it established the discipline and concern for correctness that became the hallmark of the Guards. He knew that the time would come when the battle was on, and we were in a tight corner, when discipline would save the Regiment from disaster.

(Robert E. Osborne, Pax in Bello, 52)

Born in Quebec City on 3 September 1896, Henry Crawford Griffith was an accountant and First World War veteran. He had enlisted with the 60th Battalion and went to France as a sergeant before suffering a gunshot wound at the battle of Mont Sorrell in June 1916. He was commissioned in 1918 and returned to the field with the 87th Battalion. He joined the militia after the war, serving as adjutant with the Canadian Grenadier Guards.

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Lt-Col. M.F. Peiler

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Lieutenant-Colonel M.F. Peiler
22nd Armoured Regiment (Canadian Grenadier Guards)

In the days of the last war, we just didn’t know the amount of instruction necessary. The present method is way ahead of anything we ever knew. In those days it was just a case of getting into the air and finding the rest out for yourself.

(Toronto Star, 17 Nov 1940, 11)

Born in Montreal on 4 January 1897, Maurice Fisher Peiler was an engineer and First World War veteran. He joined the Canadian Officers’ Training Corps at McGill University in 1915. He took a commission with the Victoria Rifles and served as a signalling instructor in Canada until being seconded to the Royal Flying Corps in 1917. He was shot down by the Red Baron’s squadron over enemy line in May 1918 and taken prisoner. After the war he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force but soon transferred to the Canadian Grenadier Guards.

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