Regina Rifle Regiment

Brig. H. Sharp

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Brigadier Harry Sharp
Regina Rifle Regiment
11th Infantry Brigade

… just because they have guts enough to step out and fight … Young lads who come of age and enlist here in December will be fighting in France by April. It makes no difference how many older men are taken. All the young fellows as they come of age will go into the firing line while men of 30, the ideal age for fighting, with years of training, hang back.

(Quoted in Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, 13 Nov 1944, 3)

Born on 30 April 1895 in Parry Sound, Ontario, Harry Sharp was principal of North Battleford Collegiate and a University of Saskatchewan graduate. As a student he had enlisted with the 152nd Battalion in November 1915 and reverted from the rank of sergeant to join a reinforcement draft to the 52nd Battalion in France a year later. He quick re-earned his stripes but was put out of action with a gunshot wound in May 1917. He received the Distinguished Conduct Medal and took a commission just before the end of the war.

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Lt-Col. T.H. Hewitt

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Lieutenant-Colonel T.H. Hewitt
Regina Rifle Regiment

For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in leading a party to the capture of an advanced post and holding it for two days under heavy enemy bombardment. His services in leading his platoon and in consolidating the new line have been invaluable throughout.

(M.C. citation, 6 Jul 1917)

Born on 1 February 1889 in Bradford, Yorkshire, England, Thomas Henry Hewitt was a civil servant and former commander officer of the Regina Rifles from 1932 to 1936. He had settled in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan as a teenager and joined the provincial civil service. In September 1915, he enlisted with the 46th Battalion, which deployed to France in August 1916. He received a field commission before Vimy Ridge and subsequently earned the Military Cross at Lens.

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Lt-Col. H.J. Quinn

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Lieutenant-Colonel Herb Quinn
Regina Rifle Regiment

The Reserve Army is not being equipped for fun, but as insurance against the same thing happening here as has happened in other countries which believed themselves safe from attack. We must be prepared to combat internal subversive elements as well as to repel invaders from our shores, if such an emergency should ever arise.

(Quoted in Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, 14 Nov 1942 3)

Born on 8 December 1884 in London, Ontario, Herbert Joseph Quinn was a reporter for the London Free Press before moving west and settling in Manitoba in 1905. He enlisted with the 181st Battalion in May 1916 and joined the Canadian Machine Gun Corps in France in November 1917. He was wounded in August 1918 and earned the Military Medal. After the First World War, he moved to Saskatchewan, worked for the Moose Jaw Times-Herald and the Regina Leader-Post, and then established an insurance and real estate firm in 1928.

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Lt-Col. J.G. Robertson

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Lieutenant-Colonel J.G. Robertson
Regina Rifle Regiment

Canada can be assured that the English people and also the American forces have a high realization of the support by Canada to the war cause. Best of all, I may add, is the thorough respect for the Canadian fighters wherever they are found.

(Quoted in Regina Leader-Post, 9 Aug 1944, 3)

Born on 1 September 1890 in Churchville, Nova Scotia, John Gordon Robertson moved to Saskatchewan after graduating from McGill University with an agricultural degree and specialty in animal husbandry in 1912. He enlisted with the 195th Battalion in December 1915 and joined the 44th Battalion as a reinforcement officer in France a year later. He suffered a serious shell wound in March 1917 at Vimy Ridge, which left him hospitalized for a year. On return home, in 1919, he was appointed provincial livestock commissioner for Saskatchewan.

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