Lieutenant-Colonel Bill Reid
Perth Regiment
Royal Canadian Regiment

Bill Reid proved to everyone in the regiment that he wasn’t the kind of battalion commander who directs his men from well out of the line of fire. He was up there on the crest, right in the thick of it with the rest … For his bold and determined leadership for the regiment’s unexcelled performance in the Gothic Line, Reid won for himself and the regiment the second highest battlefield award, the Distinguished Service Order. We were pretty damn proud of him, and pretty damn proud of ourselves too, for what we’d accomplished.

(Stanley Scislowski, Not All of Us Were Brave, 271)

Born in Charlottetown, PEI on 1 February 1913, William Wright Reid was an all-round sportsman and militia officer with the PEI Highlanders. He transferred to the Princess Louise Fusiliers in July 1942 to be second-in-command and succeeded Lieutenant-Colonel H.S. Robinson in July 1943. The motorized infantry battalion was then re-designated 11th Infy Bde Support Group which deployed to Italy alongside the 5th Armoured Division in late 1943.

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