Canloan Officers

Discussion in 'Canadian' started by BeppoSapone, Jun 13, 2004.

  1. CL Scot-Brown

    CL Scot-Brown Junior Member

    Hi Paul,

    That is so spooky, I have just this afternoon read a small account of one such man in the book 'Testaments of Honour' by Blake Heathcote.

    The man in question Charles Scot-Brown was Canloaned to the Gordon Highlanders in 1943, went in on D-Day, was wounded, joined 1st Para after and was in Operation Market Garden.

    Book was published in 2002, might be a chance there?

    Will that do you?

    Steve.

    I am Charles Scot-Brown , and have just registered with the forum .
     
  2. ritsonvaljos

    ritsonvaljos Senior Member

    I am Charles Scot-Brown , and have just registered with the forum .

    Welcome to the forum, Charles. I look forward to reading your contributions. Also, I trust that you will find much that will be of interest to you.
     
  3. 17thDYRCH

    17thDYRCH Senior Member

    Charles,
    You are a CANLOAN Veteran?

    My brother in law's father was seconded to the 51St Highland Division. Name was
    RB Coates.
     
  4. Joe Brown

    Joe Brown WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    BeppoSapone.

    Dear Tony,

    Just read your post dated 14-06-2004 and note with sadness the list of Canadian Officers who died fighting when serving with the 8th Battalion The Royal Scots.

    I remember the 8th Battalion The Royal Scots had a deep sense of pride when the Canadian Officers first arrived in the Battalion, prepared to be with us to face whatever lay ahead. Our Regiment already had a long and close affiliation with the Canadian Scottish, and now these keen young officers by our side gave us a tremendous uplift.

    You list Lieutenant Peter Young and Lieutenant Earl Harcourt killed on the 16th July 1944; it was at a time when we suffered one hundred and fifty-three casualties in three days in the fight to take and hold Boughy and Garvus. Brigadier Clark who commanded the Tank Brigade in the battle said: ‘It was sticky – for the Boche was on three sides of the 8th Royal Scots. This area was one of the unsafest places I knew of at that time.’

    The 8th Royal Scots – as you say, the First of Foot, raised in 1633 – lost 241 officers and men killed and 861 wounded as they fought their way from the Normandy Bridgehead to the within 35 miles of the Baltic shore, being the only infantry battalion involved in the three major water obstacles of the Seine, the Rhine and the Elbe.

    I have a thread in Unit Documents: The History of 8th Battalion The Royal Scots 1939-45.

    With regards,

    Joe Brown
     
  5. Staffsyeoman

    Staffsyeoman Member

    Just by-the-by, in the Military Museum in The Citadel in Halifax, NS there is a battledress badged to one of the CANLOAN officers who served with 2nd Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment in 3rd Division. Without my photographs/notes I can't recall whose it is...
     
  6. Pieter F

    Pieter F Very Senior Member

    MARSH, ROBERT GEORGE
    Rank:Captain
    Service No:CDN/485
    Date of Death:24/10/1944
    Age:30
    Regiment/Service:Royal Canadian Infantry Corps
    attd. 6th Bn Royal Welch Fusiliers
    Grave Reference3. A. 1.
    CemeteryUDEN WAR CEMETERY
    Additional Information:
    Son of John George and Alice Maude Marsh; husband of Margaret Elizabeth Marsh, of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

    [​IMG]
     
  7. Pieter F

    Pieter F Very Senior Member

    LEE, DONALD KENNETH
    Rank:Lieutenant
    Service No:CDN/321
    Date of Death:28/09/1944
    Regiment/Service:Royal Canadian Infantry Corps
    attd. 8th Bn Royal Scots
    Grave Reference1. H. 11.
    CemeteryUDEN WAR CEMETERY

    [​IMG]
     
    Buteman likes this.
  8. canuck

    canuck Closed Account

  9. Pieter F

    Pieter F Very Senior Member

    Thanks for sharing this one Canuck.
     
  10. Pieter F

    Pieter F Very Senior Member

    BOX, VERNON ERIC
    Rank:Lieutenant
    Service No:CDN/331
    Date of Death:22/02/1945
    Age:32
    Regiment/Service:Royal Canadian Infantry Corps
    attd. 6th Bn. Royal Scots Fusiliers
    Grave ReferenceXII. H. 12.
    CemeteryHOLTEN CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY
    Additional Information:
    Son of Leonard C. and Gertrude E. Box; husband of Dorothy Sprague Box, of Fredericton, New Brunswick.

    [​IMG]
     
  11. stolpi

    stolpi Well-Known Member

    McKIBBIN, HUGH DAVID

    Rank: Lieutenant
    Service No: CDN/640
    Date of Death: 12/01/1945
    Age: 21
    Regiment/Service: Royal Canadian Infantry Corps
    attd. 5/7th Bn Gordon Highlanders
    Grave Reference V. D. 8.
    Cemetery HOTTON WAR CEMETERY

    CWGC - Casualty Details

    Hotton_War_Graves_2009_27.jpg


    Lt David McKibbin (grave to the right) was killed on 12 January 1945, during the Battle of the Bulge, when long range enemy shelling scored three unlucky hits on a stationnary column of TCVs and other vehicles just outside La Roch-en-Ardenne, carrying troops of the 5/7th Gordon Highlanders, 51st Highland Division.

    McKibbin's truck received a direct hit. The truck driver H.E.D. "Bunny'' Lennard, RASC, (grave on the left) also was killed, as were three other soldiers in the rear of the vehicle.

    For more details see: Ardennes 1945, 51st Highland Div
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2021
  12. Buteman

    Buteman 336/102 LAA Regiment (7 Lincolns), RA

    Name: CREHAN, MAURICE JOHN
    Rank: Major
    Service No: Cdn/121
    Date of Death: 20/10/1944
    Age: 35
    Regiment/Service: Royal Canadian Infantry Corps
    Unit: attd. 1st Bn. Royal Irish Fusiliers
    Grave Reference: I, H, 14.
    Cemetery: SANTERNO VALLEY WAR CEMETERY
    Additional Information: Son of Matthew Joseph and Mercy Ellen Crehan, of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; husband of Pamela Crehan, of Vancouver.

    (Photo thanks to Mick McCann of British War Graves)

    [​IMG]
     
    Pieter F likes this.
  13. Jonesy123

    Jonesy123 Junior Member

    Hi there I'm a bit new here. (1 post)

    My name is Gil and I live in Mol, Belgium (near Gheel).I'm 30 years and I'm a warresearcher for my community. About two years ago I started my search for Lt. Brownlee Lamont CDN605 and some other soldiers. He died near my home and I'm in an organisation that wants to make a new monument where he and 2 other soldiers of the 2nd bat of the Gordon Highlanders died.
    He was ambushed by Germans at Sas 6 ( a lock at the Kempisch Canal). I'm just dying to find more information about him. I have some Canadian military documents and I'm in contact with relatives but they also do not have a picture of him. I know Brigadier General Milton Fowler Gregg kept a large book containing pictures and information about all Canloan officers. So now I’m looking for his book. Does anyone can help me or know where that book is?

    Thanks in advance.
    Regards Gil
     
  14. 17thDYRCH

    17thDYRCH Senior Member

    Gil,
    I do not know where to obtain a copy of the book you are after.
    But, other sources of information:
    A book titled " Codeword CANLOAN" by Dr. Wilfred Smith 1993 Dundurn Press and " A CANLOAN Officer" privately published by Lt. Col. R.F. Fendick.
    Fendick was in charge of the east coast chapter of the CANLOAN Officers Association.
    Regrettably Fendick passed away about 3 years ago.
    Lastly, a photo of Lamont may be stored at the Canadian Archives.
    Contact a very good researcher at cef.research@rogers.com. He charges a nominal fee.
    Hope this helps.
     
    stolpi likes this.
  15. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Hi Gil

    I'll throw out a couple of suggestions, though you may have considered them already ...?

    The UNB Archives holds material from several Gregg researchers and could be a source for further leads.

    Dominick Graham Collection - UNB Archive

    Other possible sources are The Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society and the RCR Museum in London Ontario which displays his war medals.

    Otherwise I have yet to come across any photos from the refresher courses at A-34 Special Officers' Training Centre, Sussex, NB.

    Regards ...
     
    stolpi likes this.
  16. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Hello

    For anyone interested in pursuing Lt. Brownlee-Lamont his service records are available in the link below. At 85 pages long it contains incredible detail. It's interesting to note he changed his name from Wilfred Brownlee Vanderlip to Wifred Wallace Nigel Brownlee-Lamont. We have located a possible UCLA student pic, but are still in pursuit of a proper wartime photo.

    BROWNLEE-LAMONT, WILFRED WALLACE NIGEL - LAC

    Regards ...
     
  17. OW Shuttleworth

    OW Shuttleworth New Member

    I have a photo of Canloan uniforms from the War museum, taken June 2001.
     

    Attached Files:

    canuck, Cee, Buteman and 1 other person like this.
  18. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Hi OW and welcome ... :)

    That is quite the collection. The photo I assume was taken at the War Museum in Ottawa ...?

    Cheers ...
     
  19. canuck

    canuck Closed Account

    Major General then Captain Roland Reid served with the 2nd Battalion, Devonshire Regiment as a company commander for most of the Northwest Campaign (1944-1945)

    "The British soldiers were very intrigued by Canadian officers. The Canadian officers were different than the British officers in the sense that, without being too informal, they took more time with the troops than the British officers"

    As I was born in 1920, I did my studies in French. At the time, there were classical colleges and I was at the Jesuits in Montréal (Québec) on Bleury Street. From there, with a bachelor’s degree from l’Université de Montréal, I went to study engineering at McGill in 1940. Evidently, between both wars from 1918 to 1939, all universities had a COTC (Canadian Officer Training Corps) and l’Université de Montréal had a French one called the CEOC (“Corps école d'élèves officiers"). That’s when I started wearing a uniform. At the beginning of 1944, the British Army had a severe shortage of infantry officers. They received permission from the Canadian government to send military representatives from the British Army from Victoria (British Columbia) all the way to Halifax (Nova Scotia) to ask Canadian infantry officers if they had a surplus of officers at that time in Montreal or Canada. Because except for Dieppe, (the Dieppe Raid in Normandy on August 19, 1942), we hadn’t been involved in large-scale military battles during the Second World War. So, we had a surplus of infantry officers across Canada. So that’s how the British government received authorization from the Canadian government to come and request volunteers among the Canadian infantry officers to go and serve with the British Army.
    The British soldiers were very intrigued by Canadian officers. The Canadian officers were different than the British officers in the sense that, without being too informal, they took more time with the troops than the British officers. The troops would go through their marching exercises and when they were finished, the British officer would say, “Sergeant!” and then “Over to you sergeant.” He left the troops with the sergeant or with the sergeant-major and then he would leave. Canadian officers were used to being closer to the troops and speaking with them. If they were having problems, we would try to solve them, and so on. The British soldiers really appreciated that; the way Canadian officers worked which was very different than the British officers. Without being overly informal with the troops, the Canadian officers took a little more time with the troops. So, in general we, the Canadian officers, were very popular with the British Army.
    I was assigned to the Devonshire Regiment, 231st Brigade of the 50th British Division. It was a division of the Regular Army so there were older servicemen from before the war. It wasn’t a regiment of military militia that was mobilised during the war; it was a regiment of the Regular Army from before the war.
    First and foremost, in Normandy after the landing (June 1944), after the initial push and until the end of June, war in the trenches, like in 1914-1918, had started again. There were night patrols, we pushed and every week or every other week, there were surprise attacks in various areas. Until the end of July or the beginning of August, it was a big push from the British and Canadian troops who were closer to the sea. The British were in the middle. The Americans were in lower France. We pushed directly across Germany to make it to Denmark. The Americans went towards Berlin. The British Army made its way to Denmark while the Canadians went to Holland. The war ended on the German and Danish borders and we celebrated with the British Army.
    I saw some difficult things but that’s life. You have to forget and keep going. One becomes rather fatalistic with the war. You know that some people are being killed and others are being injured, losing members and so on. But man being what he is, you always hope that it won’t be you. It’s always the other guy who will be injured and crippled. That’s how you survive and adapt better to everything that happens in life.

    http://www.thememoryproject.com/stories/2194:roland-roy-reid/
     
    gpo son likes this.
  20. 17thDYRCH

    17thDYRCH Senior Member

    Canuck,
    Nice find.
     

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