Fusiliers Mont-Royal

Lt-Col. C.F.L. Roy

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Lieutenant-Colonel Laurent Roy
Fusiliers Mont-Royal
Roy

Our second in command Major C. F. L. Roy was found in the skin of a merchant selling a typewriter to two war correspondents. Now we know he is the man to occupy the position of Mess President for the officers mess. Tow we can buy two new typewriters for our secretary.

(War diary, 25 May 1945)

Born on 30 December 1915 in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Charles Francis Laurent Roy worked for the Canada Starch company and graduated from the Joliette Seminary. Since 1935 he had been a commissioned officer in the Régiment de Joliette, which mobilized in 1942 for home service as part of the Atlantic Command in New Brunswick and Newfoundland. In January 1945, the regiment went overseas to England where it was broken-up for reinforcements. Roy as attached to the Fusiliers Mont-Royal as second-in-command during the final phase of the Northwest Europe campaign.

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Lt-Col. J.A. Dextraze

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Lieutenant-Colonel Jimmy Dextraze
Fusiliers Mont-Royal
Dextraze

I love my province. I love my country. I don’t see Canada without the province of Quebec—or without Alberta or British Columbia. I went to combat to keep my freedom, to keep all we have as a country. As a Quebecois I also fought for Quebec when I went to combat … It sounds corny talking this way, you know, but maybe I’m a corny man. I’m a down-to-earth fellow.

(Quoted in Montreal Gazette, 14 Apr 1980, 10)

Born on 15 August 1919 in Montreal, Jacques Alfred Dextraze worked for a rubber company when he volunteered with the Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal in 1940. By 1942, he had been recommended for a commission and completed officer training at Brockville. He went overseas with a reinforcement draft after the losses the Fusiliers had suffered at Dieppe. By the time the battalion deployed to France in early July 1944, Dextraze had been promoted to major and “D” company commander. For “personal daring and determination,” leading his company in a hand-to-hand fight on 1 August, he earned the D.S.O.

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Lt-Col. P. Sauvé

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Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Sauvé
Fusiliers Mont-Royal
Sauve

I realize that my absence may cause certain inconveniences. But as the war wears its way to the end—and it is the general conviction it will be this year—we much all of us realize the enormous task which awaits the government after the war.

(Montreal Gazette, 29 Jul Oct 1944, 9)

Born on 23 March 1907 in Saint-Benoît, Quebec, Joseph-Mignault-Paul Sauvé was a Université de Montréal graduate, lawyer, member of the Quebec Legislative Assembly since 1930. He represented Deux-Montagnes, succeeding his father, the former Quebec Conservative Party leader and senator. Defeated in 1935, he returned the next year as part of the newly formed Union Nationale Party of Maurice Duplessis and served as assembly president. Re-elected in the November 1939 election and speculated to be a potential new leader of the party, he instead would turn to military duties with Fusiliers Mont-Royal.

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Lt-Col. H-N. Langlois

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Lieutenant-Colonel H-N. Langlois
Fusiliers Mont-Royal
Langlois

In his speech Lt-Col J.G. Gauvreau mentioned the long and hard career of Lt-Col H.N. Langlois, ED, 23 years with the unit, who worked his way up from the rank of Pte to Lt-Col commanding Les Fusiliers Mont Royal.

(War diary, 18 Feb 1944)

Born in Connecticut in 1905, Henri-Noël Langlois had joined Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal as a private in 1921. He would be soon commissioned and served as adjutant after mobilization for active service in September 1939. He returned to Canada to take a staff officer course at RMC and rejoined the Fusillers after the Dieppe Raid as second-in-command under commanding officer Lieutenant-Colonel Guy Gauvreau.

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Brig. J.G. Gauvreau

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Brigadier Guy Gauvreau
Fusiliers Mont-Royal
6th Infantry Brigade
Gauvreau

Nous vengerons enfin tous nos amis qui sont restés sur lese plages de Dieppe. La tache sera dure parfois mais soyez tous assurés que vos efforts ne seront pas sans recompenses.

Les nouvelles de tous les fronts sont bonne, l’avenir s’annonce plus encourageante que jamais; seulement, il faut tous y mettre la main si l’on veut voir la fin de cette guerre.

(Gauvreau, “Ordre du Jour,” war diary, 8 Jul 1944)

Born on 12 May 1915 in Montreal, Joseph Guy Gauvreau was road secretary for the Montreal Royals, the professional baseball club partly owned by his father and vice-president Colonel Romeo Gauvreau. He graduated from McGill University in June 1939 and mobilized as a lieutenant with Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal a few months later. He served in Iceland and in England as aide-de-camp to general Bernard Montgomery. Having missed the Dieppe Raid, he was recalled from home leave in September 1942 to take over the battalion from Lieutenant-Colonel Dollard Ménard who had been five-times wounded in the battle.

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Lt-Col. D. Ménard

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Lieutenant-Colonel Dollard Ménard
Fusiliers Mont-Royal
Régiment de Hull
13th Infantry Brigade
Menard

We couldn’t walk back, we couldn’t get forward, we couldn’t go in the sides, so were dead, really. We were condemned … In war there are no winners. Wars have produced nothing but misery. I hate war.

(Ménard quoted In Montreal Gazette, 3 Nov 1979, 4)

Born on 7 March 1913 in Quebec, Dollard Ménard graduated from RMC in 1932 and took a commissioned in the Royal 22nd Regiment. On exchange with the British Army during the Waziristan campaign in 1939, he returned to Canada for the formation of the 2nd Division. While attached to 8th Brigade headquarters overseas, he replaced Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Grenier of Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal in April 1942. On taking over, Ménard worked to improve unit discipline and training which had suffered under his predecessor. Four months, he led the battalion into action during the Dieppe Raid on 19 August 1942.

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Lt-Col. P. Grenier

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Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Grenier
Fusiliers Mont-Royal
Grenier

The weak link in this Bde is the Fus M.R. I do not believe that Grenier has the military knowledge and professional ability to produce a good and well-trained Bn. He has commanded the Bn for over 5 years and is nearly 50 years old. He should really be replaced by a better and younger man.

(Gen. Montgomery, “Notes on Inf. Bdes of Canadian Corps,” Jan 1942)

Born on 23 January 1893 in Montreal, Paul Grenier was grandson of a former mayor of the city and commanding officer of Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal since March 1938. He had joined the 150th Battalion as a lieutenant and served in France with the 42nd Battalion then the 22nd Battalion until severely wounded at Passchendaele. A militia officer with the Fusiliers Mont-Royal since 1919, he steadily rose through the ranks by seniority and led the battalion to Iceland in June 1940.

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