Lieutenant-Colonel John Rowley
North Shore Regiment

As lieutenant-colonel, commanding the North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment, I selected Major John Rowley, Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa, who won my heart on his first and only interview with me when he said, ‘Sir, I can have no greater honour bestowed upon me than to command a Canadian regiment in battle.’ He was a romantic, not bombastic, and what he did with his first command is unbelievable.

(Gen. J.A. Roberts, The Canadian Summer, 104)

Born on 2 December 1912 in Ottawa, John William Horsley Rowley had a law degree from Dalhousie University and was a barrister-at-law in the nation’s capital. He took a commission with the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa in 1932 and was promoted captain in September 1939. Following garrison duty in Iceland in 1940-41, he served as instructor at the company commander school in England then took up staff duties with 3rd Division, 8th Infantry Brigade, and First Canadian Army in 1942.

Continue reading →