Lieutenant-Colonel Bob Purves
11th (Ontario) Tank Regiment

The development of mass destruction weapons will lead away from great wars, where millions of men face each other. Instead we will have a continuation of smaller wars such as Korea, Indo-China, Palestine and Malaya—all aided and abetted by one or the other of the great power blocks.

(Purves in Toronto Star, 12 Nov 1954, 7)

Born in Victoria, British Columbia on 13 October 1910, Robert Lloyd Purves was a University of British Columbia graduate and schoolteacher in Calgary. Having belonged to the prewar reserve army with the Calgary Highlanders, he mobilized for active service in early 1941. He would serve with each of the three tank battalions in the 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade; as squadron commander in the 14th (Calgary) Regiment at Dieppe, second-in-command of the 12th (Three Rivers) Regiment, and commanding officer of the 11th (Ontario) Regiment.

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