Royal 22nd Regiment

Lt-Col. G-A. Turcot

/ Matthew K Barrett / Leave a comment

Lieutenant-Colonel Giles Turcot
Royal 22nd Regiment
Turcot

People think soldiers are war-mongers. We’re not. We’re peace-makers.

(Turcot in Calgary Herald, 21 Oct 1972, 25)

Born in Quebec City on 9 December 1917, Gilles-Antoine Turcot was a hockey player and student at Laval University. He joined Les Voltigeurs de Québec in 1935 and mobilized with the 22nd Regiment four years later as a lieutenant. He served as a company commander during the invasion of Sicily, where wounded and evacuated. By late 1943, he was back in Canada training troops and promoted to lieutenant-colonel.

Continue reading →

Brig. J.V. Allard

/ Matthew K Barrett / Leave a comment

Brigadier J.V. Allard
Royal 22nd Regiment
6th Infantry Brigade
Allard

Durant plus de 20 ans donc, Bernatchez et moi avions fait ce que nous avions pu. Je ne peux taire, cependant, que des centaines de nos compagnons de langue française, à tous les niveaux et dans toutes les situations, s’étaient aussi battus, en ordre dispersé. Plusieurs avaient abandonné; d’autres avaient choisi la voie périlleuse, à bien des égards, mais plus facile—surtout dans la marine et l’aviation—de l’anglicisation. La grande majorité des francophones qui avaient servi avaient pu constater que ces forces n’étaient pas les leurs.

(Allard, Mémoires, 407)

Born on 12 June 1913 in Sainte-Monique-de-Nicolet, Québec, Jean Victor Allard had been commissioned with the Régiment de Trois-Rivières since 1933. Following an exchange with the 4th London Yeomanry in 1941, he returned to Canada to be an instructor at the officer staff college in Kingston, Ontario. Insulted to passed over for promotion in the now anglicized Three Rivers Regiment, he transferred from the armoured corps to the infantry as second-in-command of the Régiment de la Chaudière.

Continue reading →

Brig. J.P.E. Bernatchez

/ Matthew K Barrett / Leave a comment

Brigadier Paul Bernatchez
Royal 22nd Regiment
3rd Infantry Brigade
Bernatchez

Lieutenant Colonel Bernatchez, a Captain in the Royal 22nd Regiment on the outbreak of war, proceeded overseas in command of a company. His energy and enthusiasm and exceptional military knowledge resulted in his command in October 1941. Those same attributes are responsible for the high degree of discipline and morale of all ranks of his regiment.

(O.B.E. citation, 1 Jan 1943)

Born in Montmagny, Quebec, on 1 March 1911, Joseph Paul Emile Bernatchez was a graduate of RMC and one of fewer than fifty francophones in the Permanent Force prior to mobilization in 1939. In October 1941, at the age of only thirty, he succeeded Lieutenant-Colonel P.E. Poirier. As his two predecessors had been First World War veterans, this appointment signaled a changing of the guard of the francophone regiment. His over two years in command from training in the United Kingdom to the battlefields of Sicily and Italy represented an unusually long tenure for a battalion commander.

Continue reading →

Lt-Col. J.P.E. Poirier

/ Matthew K Barrett / Leave a comment

Lieutenant-Colonel J.P.E. Poirier
Royal 22nd Regiment
Poirier

The case of this officer is one which it is rather difficult to deal with. He has a very pleasant personality, is very popular and has a splendid war record. Furthermore, when really sober is professionally capable. On the other hand, he seems quite incapable of withstanding the temptations of drink for more than a few weeks at a time, almost invariably lapses when it is really important that he should keep sober, his appearance has all gone to pieces and he seems unable to pass his promotion examinations.

(Brig. J.M. Prowse to adjutant-general’s branch, 7 Jan 1935)

Born in Thetford Mines, Quebec on 1 May 1896, Joseph Philippe Emile Poirier enlisted in the 22nd Battalion as a private and earned two Military Medals for bravery. Commissioned in June 1918, he joined in the Royal 22nd Regiment as part of the Permanent Force in 1920. He became second-in-command on mobilization in September 1939. After Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Flynn fell seriously ill in England and returned to Quebec in January 1941, Poirier took command of the regiment.

Continue reading →

Lt-Col. P. Flynn

/ Matthew K Barrett / Leave a comment

Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Flynn
Royal 22nd Regiment
Flynn

Tuesday was bad for the Royal 22nd regiment, for in the course of war games now in progress south of Camp Borden the regiment’s whole headquarters staff became theoretical casualties in consequence of tank attacks.

(Leader-Post, 31 Aug 1938, 9)

Born in Quebec City on 13 December 1889, Georges Arthur Emile Percy Flynn was a lawyer and son of former Quebec premier Edmund James Flynn (1847–1927). Having served in England and Siberia during the Great War, he was appointed commanding officer of the 22nd Regiment in July 1938. The next month he took part in a war exercise at Camp Borden, where he and his entire headquarters were ambushed and “put out of action.”

Continue reading →