Lieutenant Colonel A. G. Fonseca
197th (Vikings of Canada) Battalion

War Invention by Colonel Fonseca Rips Barbed Entanglements to Pieces

 Proof of the military value of the new war machine invented by Lieut.-Col. Fonseca, of the 197th Battalion, was submitted to a number of experts In the art of modern warfare at Fort Rouge Tuesday afternoon. The news that a weapon which can successfully combat barbed wire In the field had been Invented created great Interest and Col. Fonseca consented to a series of tests to substantiate his claims.

(Winnipeg Tribune, 8 Aug 1916, 5)

Despite his Latin name, Alfonso Gomez Fonseca raised a battalion of Scandinavians from Manitoba. He was born in Winnipeg on 14 June 1876. His father, William Gomez da Fonseca (1823—1905), was born in the Danish West Indies, moved to North America and became an early Winnipeg pioneer in the 1860.

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