Lieutenant-Colonel Giles Turcot
Royal 22nd Regiment

People think soldiers are war-mongers. We’re not. We’re peace-makers.
(Turcot in Calgary Herald, 21 Oct 1972, 25)
Born in Quebec City on 9 December 1917, Gilles-Antoine Turcot was a hockey player and student at Laval University. He joined Les Voltigeurs de Québec in 1935 and mobilized with the 22nd Regiment four years later as a lieutenant. He served as a company commander during the invasion of Sicily, where wounded and evacuated. By late 1943, he was back in Canada training troops and promoted to lieutenant-colonel.