Richard Lippincott Denison

The Blue Bomber

/ Matthew K Barrett / Leave a comment

Lieutenant Colonel R.L. Denison
1st Canadian Tank Battalion
DenisonRL

He is very weak & debilitated. He suffers from insomnia & shock. The Board is of opinion that he will not be fit for any Service at home or even light-duty for nine months, & as he is a native of Canada he should be permitted to proceed home. He has also six bullet wounds in the left leg and four in the right

(Proceedings of Medical Board, 22 May 1915)

Born on 23 March 1889 in Minnedosa, Manitoba, Richard Lippincott Denison was a Winnipeg insurance manager and sportsman when commissioned as a lieutenant with the 8th Battalion in August 1914. He was put out of action when badly shot up and concussed in France in May 1915. Suffering from multiple bullet and shrapnel wounds as well as likely shell shock, he was found unfit for any duty and returned home. Six months later he enlisted as a major with the 90th Battalion.

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Lt. Col. Mills

/ Matthew K Barrett / Leave a comment

Lieutenant Colonel J.E. Mills, D.S.O.
1st Canadian Tank Battalion
Mills

It was while on this reorganization work that our O.C. conceived the idea of the Canadian Tank Corps. He is the father of the First Canadian Tank Battalion, and had it not been for the sudden cessation of hostilities, his claim that Canada could distinguish itself in the tank-field would have been justified.

(The Tank Tatler, Vol. 1, No. 4, 1919, 4)

By the end of the Great War, John Edgar Mills had been an artilleryman, staff officer, air force observer, gunnery school commandant, and tank battalion commander. He was born in Brantford, Ontario on 3 November 1878. Commissioned with the Permanent Force since 1903, he was an expert in artillery and chief gunnery instructor with the First Contingent. He served on the staff of the 1st Division and was attached to the Royal Flying Corps before transferring to the Royal Field Artillery as part of the Gallipoli campaign.

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