Lieutenant-Colonel C.A. Baerman
7th Reconnaissance Regiment (17th Hussars)

As far as the regiment is concerned, I think I can justly claim that it has done a very fine job. That dash up the coast alone is an achievement of which any unit might well have been proud … I had taken over command in October, and in November we received our first rest–four days in Ghent. Then we took charge of the Nijmegen bridges, where we did a lot of damage to the Germans with the colossal fire power we had at hand.

(Montreal Star, 3 Sep 1945, 3)

Born on 21 March 1910 in Lambhill, Scotland, Charles Alexander Baerman, was a broker in Montreal. He had enlisted as a trooper in the 17th Duke of York’s Royal Canadian Hussars and served as sergeant-major since 1937. He received a commission in February 1940 and would be promoted again to captain by the time the now redesignated 7th Reconnaissance Regiment embarked for the United Kingdom in August 1941. He was promoted again to major the next year.

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