Canada's Highland Regiments

[BoldHighlander]

http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/sgowen/85th.html

[BoldHighlander]

One of my favorites photos
(I love the variation in headgear):






William LeRoy Johnson
1899 - 1985

Born: August 26th,1899
Truro, Nova Scotia

Son of Daniel and Mary (Leigh) Johnson

Died in 1985
Buried: Terrace Hill Cemetery, Truro,N.S.



John Stanley Power
1898 - 1983

Born: August 18, 1898
in Sheffield Mills, Kings Co. Nova Scotia.

Son of Frederick Weatherby Power
and Bertha ( Strong ) Power of Sheffield Mills, N.S.

Married Lottie Edna Cahoon in 1922
and resided in Lakeville, Kings Co. N.S.

Stanley was a farmer and Lottie a nurse.

They had six children:
Doris, Bill, Shirley, Hilma, Jean and Harold.

Died: September 10,1983
in Berwick, N.S. at age 85.




Samuel Merle McLean
1895 - 1980

Born: January 23,1895
Brookline,Massachusetts,U.S.A.

Parents: Louis and Anzenneta (Kelly)
of Port Saxon, Nova Scotia

Married: 1920, Rhoda Siteman
of Ship Harbour, Halifax County, Nova Scotia
They had 14 children.

Died: December 27,1980
Quincy, Massachusetts,U.S.A.



William Tait Robertson
1884-1976

Born Jan. 10, 1884, Riverview, Co Cumberland, NS

Son of Evan C. Robertson and Ruth (Tait) Roberts

Married Mary Isabel Maitland in 1921

[BoldHighlander]

Pipe Major Hugh MacBeth, the Calgary Highlanders

The first Pipe Major of the Calgary Highlanders was Hugh MacBeth, who led the Regimental Pipes and Drums from 1921 to 1923. Born in Scotland, MacBeth had immigrated to Canada, and served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the First World War, most notably in the 16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish), a famous unit of the 1st Canadian Division that was also the parent formation of the 10th Battalion, the forerunners of The Calgary Highlanders. MacBeth also played in The Calgary Highlanders after stepping down as Pipe Major, and is identified in the photo (below) as the band's Pipe Sergeant at the time of the Canadian Pacific Railway Scottish Music Festival in Banff, probably in 1927. The CPR held a series of music and folk arts festivals from 1927 to 1931, organized by publicity agent John Murray Gibbon.



Pipe Major Neil Sutherland of The Calgary Highlanders

Pipe Major Neil Sutherland of The Calgary Highlanders during the parade of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division in Dieppe on 3 September 1944. The Division had provided the bulk of the combat force (with several hundred British Commandos and 50 U.S. Army Rangers) during the famous Raid of August 1942, leaving behind 2,000 prisoners at the end of the day. The Calgary Highlanders' mortar platoon was sent to Dieppe but did not disembark; Sergeants Bill Lyster and Bert Pittaway were Mentioned in Despatches for shooting down a German aircraft while on anti-aircraft duties offshore. Captain Ted Insinger, assigned to a brigade headquarters, was killed while ashore. The Division returned to the European continent in July 1944; by 1 September the Battle of Normandy had been concluded and Allied forces were across the Seine River in force. The German garrison at Dieppe showed no stomach for a rematch and evacuated the city as the division approached; on 3 September 8,000 men marched 10 abreast through the city to mark the liberation and commemorate the 800 dead buried in the nearby cemetery after the 1942 battle.

[BoldHighlander]

13th Platton 'D' Company
2nd Battalion 16th Canadian Scottish
Salt Spring Island
1931

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13th Battalion Black Watch of Canada
C Company

Bleury Street Armory
front of Baron de Hersh building.

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Private Charles Albert Batten, Company D, 42nd Battalion, Royal Highlanders, Canadian Expeditionary Forces, was killed in action, August 28, 1918.

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Unknown Canadian 1917
(note sporran badge: Black Watch?)


Unknown Canadian

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[BoldHighlander]

Caption:
Lord Willingdon, Governor General of Canada, inspects the Calgary Highlanders in 1928.
Officer at left wears the same pattern sporran as the enlisted men - two black points on white, with a Tenth Battalion badge on the cantle.

At this point in time, the Regiment still boasted many veterans of the First World War, as evidenced by the decorations on the soldiers photographed here. A red sash is just visible on the sergeant second from right, and he also wears an older Canadian Pattern Service Dress Jacket with 7 button front and stand up collar. Compare to the man at right, with the 5 button pattern adopted from the British during the First World War.

All soldiers carry the standard weapon for this period, the Number 1 Mark III SMLE (Short Magazine, Lee Enfield). Officer at left doesn't appear to have a standard pattern Highland officers' sword; likely it is a sword he purchased or had handed down to him before joining the Highlanders.

[BoldHighlander]

His Majesty, King George VI, and Lieutenant Colonel Riley (Commanding Officer, Calgary Highlanders) inspect a Guard of Honour at the train station in Calgary in 1939. The Royal Visit was a very fondly remembered occasion not just for the Regiment but for the citizens of Calgary as a whole. Not long after the visit, Canada would once again be sending soldiers to fight for His Majesty in Europe.


Before departing the city in the spring of 1940, the First Battalion, Calgary Highlanders, laid up their stand of Colours in the Church of the Redeemer in downtown Calgary.

The two Colours consisted of a King's Colour, shown here at left, and a Regimental Colour, at right. The Regimental Colour was emblazoned with Battle Honours earned by the unit's predecessor, the Tenth Battalion, during the Great War.

Lieutenant Colonel J. Fred Scott is shown at left, wearing tartan riding pants and a balmoral. The Major holding the Regimental Colour, D.G. MacLauchlan, would later command the battalion in combat, earning the Distinguished Service Order for his leadership at Clair Tizon in the summer of 1944.