2nd Armoured Brigade

Brig. R.A. Wyman

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Brigadier Bob Wyman
1st & 2nd Armoured Brigades

Everything I have seen since I have arrived home gives new reason for this fight. There is freedom here and greener fields and even fatter cattle. You notice these things after being in Britain and they are not imaginary. They are the things we hold dear and things that most Britons cannot enjoy under war conditions.

(Quoted in Edmonton Journal, 18 Jun 1941, 1)

Born to Canadian parents in Philadelphia on 23 February 1904, Robert Andrew Wyman was a Canadian Nation Railway statistician in Edmonton and a militia officer since 1923. He mobilized as commanding officer of an artillery regiment and went overseas with the 1st Canadian Division in December 1939. After a promotion to brigadier in May 1941, he returned to Canada to organize the 1st Canadian Support Group.

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Brig. G.W. Robinson

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Brigadier G.W. Robinson
5th Armoured Regiment (8th Princess Louise’s Hussars)
2nd Armoured Brigade
Robinson

We were proud of his promotion, proud for him and proud for the Regiment. But an awful sense of loss went through all of us when we realized what it meant. He’d made us as a Regiment. He’d taken up there in England when we were far from ready and he’d turned us into a unit and a damn good unit. There is no doubt that his tough training saved us lives and casualties. He fought us well. You couldn’t have asked for a better man, anyway you want to look at it. We were awful, awful sorry to see him go.

(Quoted in Douglas How, The 8th Hussars, 288)

Born on 7 December 1907 in London, Ontario, George William Robinson was an insurance executive and squadron commander of the 1st Hussars when it mobilized for active service in summer 1940. Redesignated the 6th Canadian Armoured Regiment, it went overseas in October 1941 with Robinson rising to second-in-command. In May 1942, he replaced Lieutenant-Colonel H.S. Gamblin of the 5th Armoured (8th Princess Louise’s New Brunswick Hussars) Regiment.

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Brig. J.F. Bingham

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Brigadier John F. Bingham
Royal Canadian Dragoons
12th (Three Rivers) Tank Regiment
2nd Armoured Brigade
Bingham

The Regiment’s new C.O. is, very temporarily, Lt. Col. J.F. Bingham. A member of the general staff, he has come to serve out his mandatory one month in action, in order to qualify for promotion to brigadier.

(Charles Prieur, War Chronicles, 204)

Born in Winnipeg on 6 August 1911, John Francis Bingham was a fencer in youth and son of the former commanding officer of the Fort Garry Horse. Commissioned in the Lord Strathcona’s Horse in 1933, Bingham rose quickly after the outbreak of the Second World War from captain to lieutenant colonel. In June 1942, he became commanding officer of the Royal Canadian Dragoons (Armoured Car Regiment), which arrived at Sicily in November 1943 and entered the Italian theatre in January.

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