Lieutenant-Colonel Jim Weir
Cape Breton Highlanders

“There are, however, places where a man can get fixed up,” the colonel went on, “legitimate places. And those of you who have disobeyed regs, know what I’m referring to–whorehouses, old fashioned whorehouses. Which leads to why you’ve been kept out of the towns. There’s a lot of old-fashioned VD around and the army is trying to make sure all of you don’t get dosed. I know, some of you will. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

(Quoted in Fred Cederberg, The Long Road Home, 70)

Born in Montreal on 10 April 1906, James Buchanan Weir was a stockbroker and member of the Royal Highlanders of Canada (The Black Watch) since 1926. He resigned as vice president of the Canadian Commodity Exchange in November 1939 to enlist for active service and went overseas as a major. In the United Kingdom, he was one of several Black Watch officers transferred to the Cape Breton Highlanders (CBH). Despite their shared highlander traditions, the Nova Scotia battalion did not view the Montreal replacements at all favourably.

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