Lieutenant-Colonel Ray Colwell
Halifax Rifles
6th Armoured (1st Hussars) Regiment

During this action Lt-Col Colwell organized and fought his Regiment with great determination and courage. His own tank was shot from under him, so he continued to direct from on foot … By his courage and determination he set an excellent example to all rank and fostered the fighting spirit of his Regiment.

(D.S.O. citation, 12 Jul 1944)

Born on 11 August 1899 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Ray John Colwell was a businessman, retail clothier, and a former rugby and hockey player. He had joined the Halifax Rifles in 1917 and during the final stage of the First World War went to France just after the armistice as a lieutenant in the Canadian Machine Gun Corps. As commanding officer of the Halifax Rifles in September 1939, Colwell organized the mobilization of the regiment, and remained in command almost the next four years.

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