Gerard Bradbrooke

Brig. G.R. Bradbrooke

/ Matthew K Barrett / Leave a comment

Brigadier G.R. Bradbrooke
14th (Calgary) Tank Regiment
5th Armoured Brigade
Bradbrooke

 I think a made a success of every command I had. But what annoyed me was that I never was able to use those units, I never got into a fight. I never got into a battle. That was my disappointment in the Second World War.

(Bradbrooke, interview, 29 May 1980)

Born on 1 November 1896 in Blatchley, England, Gerard Renvoize Bradbrooke was a decorated First World War veteran and long serving army officer. A self-described “puny little runt,” he had first enlisted as bugler in November 1914, served as a machine gunner in the trenches, and was commissioned from the ranks in May 1917. Twice wounded, he earned the Military Cross at Passchendaele. “Mud was up to you knees,” he later explained. “I remember moving forward … and here were British infantry lying dead in waves.”

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Lt-Col. W.K. Jull

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Lieutenant-Colonel W.K. Jull
Calgary Highlanders
Jull

He went forward under heavy fire to reconnoitre the enemy’s dispositions. He succeeded in reaching his objective and brought back valuable information. Later, when the company on the left flank was held up by an enemy machine-gun nest, he rushed forward and succeeded in killing three of the crew and capturing the remainder, thus allowing the company to continue its advance.

(M.C. citation, 4 Oct 1919)

Born on 20 October 1891 in Rosen, Manitoba, Walter Kingsley Jull was a Calgary barrister and commanding officer of the Calgary Regiment since May 1938. As a law student he had enlisted with 31st Battalion in November 1914. He was three times wounded in action, earned a commission in February 1917, and received the Military Cross for “marked courage” in October 1918. Following the reorganization of the postwar Canadian militia, he became a captain in the Calgary Regiment in 1923 and second-in-command in 1931.

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