Lieutenant-Colonel Fred Scott
Calgary Highlanders

Perhaps the person reading this Diary right now has become rather fed up with my constant reference to Battle Drill but perhaps if you continue on reading this Diary and come to the day, say a year or two from now, and read “The Calgary Highlanders captured an important enemy position by a machine-like pincer movement” you will see why I have stressed so much this type of training.

(War diary, 31 Dec 1941)

Born in Meaford, Ontario on 3 July 1892, James Fred Scott enlisted with the 89th Battalion in 1916 and served with the Royal Flying Corps before returning to the infantry with the 50th Battalion in France. He was struck off strength to Canada with a diagnosis of trench fever in summer 1917. Following demobilization, he completed a law degree in Toronto and passed the Alberta Bar. Commanding officer of the 15th Alberta Horse since 1936, in September 1939, he succeeded Lieutenant-Colonel H.H. Riley of the Calgary Highlanders, who had been declared medical unfit for active service.

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