Royal Canadian Regiment

Lt-Col. V. Hodson

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Lieutenant-Colonel Vern Hodson
Royal Canadian Regiment
Hodson

The RCR CO, Lieutenant-Colonel Vernon Hodson, hated the staff—he said Staff College was a “forcing ground for shits”—and believed that decorations or praise shouldn’t be offered. But the drunks and incompetents were soon weeded out.

(Granatstein interview with Gen. Robert Moncel, Weight of Command, 77)

Born in London, England on 16 September February 1884, Vernon Hodson had been first commissioned with the Connaught Rangers in 1905 before immigrating to Canada. He joined the Permanent Force in 1913, mobilized with the RCR in September 1914, and went to France in November 1915. He was soon promoted to captain then major. On 9 October 1916 at the Somme, a piece of shrapnel tore through his helmet and head, fracturing his skull.

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Lt-Col. K.M. Holloway

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Lieutenant-Colonel K.M. Holloway
Royal Canadian Regiment
Holloway

This Officer has had long and distinguished service in the Canadian Permanent Militia. He served with his regiment and on the staff during the 1914-18 war and thereafter held various staff appointments throughout Canada … Since the outbreak of the present war he has been actively engaged in the training and education of the active reserve army.

 His instruction and organizing ability, combined with his never flagging keenness, understanding of condition, and helpful attitude, have placed him very high in the regard of all ranks. His zeal and industry are outstanding.

 (O.B.E. citation, 9 January 1943)

Born in Montreal 26 February 1890, Kenneth Maitland Holloway was a First World War veteran who had assumed command of the Royal Canadian Regiment in 1938. He had been commissioned in the Permanent Force since January 1912 and went to France with the regiment in November 1915.

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Maj. Gen. MacDougall

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Major General J.C. MacDougall
Canadian Training Division
MacdougallJC

General MacDougall has, also, been very nasty with General Steele, as well as with General Carson … he puffed himself out and became most offensive until, as I once told you, I gave him to understand I would recall him promptly. I had a large gathering of senior Officers at Shorncliffe yesterday, some two or three hundred, and told them frankly and kindly that all this sort of rivalry and “monkeying” must cease.

  (Sam Hughes to Robert Borden, 24 Mar 1916)

Born in Toronto on 16 July 1863, James Charles MacDougall was a Royal Military College graduate, Boer War veteran, former commanding officer of the Royal Canadian Regiment, and a professional soldier for over thirty-years in the Permanent Force. Left behind when the 1st Canadian Division went to France in February 1915, MacDougall was placed in command of all Canadian troops in the United Kingdom.

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Lt. Col. Willets

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Lieutenant Colonel C.R.E. Willets, D.S.O.
Royal Canadian Regiment
Willets

For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He went forward to the front line under very heavy fire and organized the defence of the position with great skill. He has at all times displayed the greatest courage and initiative.

(Willets, D.S.O. citation, 26 July 1917)

Born in Windsor, Nova Scotia on 21 May 1880, Charles Richard Edward Willets had left the Royal Military College early to serve in South Africa in 1901. After five years with the South African Constabulary, he was gazetted as a lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Regiment.

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The Regimental

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Lieutenant Colonel Claude H. Hill, D.S.O.
Royal Canadian RegimentCHHill

For conspicuous gallantry when in command of his battalion. He repelled several attacks and displayed great coolness and courage in directing bodies of men under heavy fire.

(Hill, D.S.O. citation, 19 Aug 1916, 8226)

Born in Halifax on 30 August 1881 in Claude Hardinge Hill joined the Royal Canadian Regiment in 1901. He volunteered to fight in the Boer War but arrived to South Africa just one day before the Treaty of Vereeniging was signed to end the war. In November 1914, he joined to the 24th Victoria Rifles Battalion as second-in-command.

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The Royal Marine

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Lieutenant Colonel W. W. P. Gibsone, D.S.O.
&
Lieutenant Colonel A. G. Vincent
40th (Bluenose) Battalion

The next unit was the Fortieth. The command was given to a professional soldier not a Nova Scotian. After it had been recruited he was ordered to England. The command then devolved on an officer who had come to Nova Scotia but recently.

(Maj. J.W. Maddin, ex-MP to Borden, 9 Dec 1916)

Born on 6 June 1872 in Quebec City, William Waring Primrose Gibsone was a professional army officer with the Royal Canadian Regiment. In February 1915, he was appointed to command the 40th Battalion. After receiving a staff posting to England in June, command of the 40th went to Arthur Gustave Vincent, a veteran of the Royal Marine Light Infantry. Born on 17 November 1862 in Saint Peter’s, Guernsey, Channel Islands, Vincent enlisted in the R.M.L.I. at the age of nineteen in 1881. He retired with the rank of major in February 1901 and remained on the reserve list until 1912.

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The Imperialist

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Major General A. H. Macdonell, D.S.O.
Royal Canadian RegimentAHMacdonell

Theirs was not a spectacular adventure.

Modern warfare had lost that glamour which in centuries past stirred the imagination of peoples. When whole nations are aligned on the battle fields in a long mass of muddy burrows, war becomes horribly monotonous, yet officers and privates faced the same dangers and they shared the same fate.

(Macdonell, Speech at War Memorial, St. John, N.B., 10 June 1925)

Born in Toronto on 6 February 1868, Archibald Hayes Macdonell was a decorated professional soldier and veteran of multiple British imperial adventures in Africa. He had fought in the Boer War, the Aro Expedition and military operations in Nigeria with the West African Frontier Force. During the South African campaign, he had briefly been taken prisoner by Boer General Christian De Wet and earned the Distinguished Service Order.

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The Bermudan

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Lieutenant Colonel A. E. Carpenter
Royal Canadian RegimentCarpenter

Colonel Carpenter, who had resided in Bermuda since the early days of the war, was deservedly popular in the community. He had a great charm of manner and his splendid courtesy and generous disposition won for him a great circle of friends. Until quite recently he was in the best of health and could daily be seen taking his vigorous early morning walk to the South Shore where he loved to bathe.

(Royal Gazette, 27 Oct 1933)

Albert Edward Carpenter was born on 2 September 1866 in Hamilton, Canada West. He joined the Royal Canadian Regiment in 1889 and served in the Boer War. He commanded the regiment from January until August 1915 while on garrison duty in Bermuda. When the R.C.R. departed for Halifax to sail on to England, Carpenter was unable to join his men in the field due to ill health and overage.

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