Lieutenant-Colonel J.M.K. Spurling
2/5th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers
4th Battalion, Welch Regiment
You’ve well reached the end of a long journey. Think of it—the Canadian Army in Berlin. Your experiences here are something to take home and remember … our finest and greatest brothers in the army—the Canadian Army.
(Quoted in Globe and Mail, 16 Jul 1945, 9)
Born on 9 May 1906 in Oundle, Northamptonshire, John Michael Kane Spurling joined the 4th Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment before completing RMC, Sandhurst and taking a commission with the Leicestershire Regiment in 1927. He was stationed overseas in India and Palestine and attended the staff college at Camberley in 1939. During the early part of the Second World War, he served as a general staff officer in the United Kingdom, the Middle East and the Far East.
World War Graphic History 