|
|
The Powder Horn The Fall 2011/Winter 2012 issue of the The Powder Horn is now available on the QOR website.
Read about what's been happening and what's planned for the Juno Beach Centre in Normandy 
It is my pleasure to send you the 19th Juno Beach Centre Newsletter. Juno Beach Centre's Newsletter For more information about the Juno Beach Centre Continuing our series of reports on Remembrance Day events we provide photos of activities in Saanich and Vancouver B.C. Fred Mercer, a former member of the 1st Battalion Bugles reports that "in eight years we have gone from 10 local residents to approximately 500 now. Central Saanich is a small community of almost 16,000 situated between Victoria and Sidney, B.C. As well, the group coordinating this ceremony are all Riflemen. We were fortunate enough to have a fly past of WW 2 planes added to our ceremony this year. Hopefully next year we'll be able to arrange a local school choir to participate." Major Murray Edwards lays a Remembrance Day Wreath at Saanich Cenotaph. Also in the photo are former QORs Lloyd Bond and Harold Drinkwalter. Click the Image Above to Launch the John-Ward Leighton reports in from Vancouver Some thoughts from a former member of The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada on the occasion of the 2011 Remembrance Day Parade and Service in Vancouver. Fifteen minutes to reveille, shoes shone, cap badge polished, trousers pressed, blazer brushed and medals attached, clean white shirt pressed, regimental tie knotted. Gloves, umbrella and cameras in readiness. My yearly eleven o'clock pilgrimage to Victory Square, a constant in the years ‘48 to ‘51 and then from ‘73 to this date. My first parade as a 12 year old in the 72nd Seaforth Highlanders Cadets in regimental garb, kilt, sporran, glengarry, white gaiters and boots two sizes too big with a ‘spit' shine. There were veterans from the South African campaign on parade, a lot of WW1 veterans of whom my father was one, a very large contingent of WW2 veterans, a war in which my father also served. Korea, Peacekeeping, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan yet to come. - John-Ward Leighton Click the Image Above to Launch the Billy Willbond reports in from Saanich A FALL DAY IN VANCOUVER John Leighton brings us colour from the Vancouver Street. Photographer/Poet John Ward Leighton is a retired airborne soldier – PPCLI, QOR of C, RC Sigs – He returned to his hometown Vancouver after travelling the world with the Army. He is an award-winning Canadian poet and professional photographer. He supports the Aids orphans and the children of war. I am proud to call him my old Army Buddy and long time friend. Billy - Canadian Soldier Poet Soldier-Poet Billy Willbond, MSM, CDis a former member of 1st Battalion The Queen`s Own Rifles of Canada, PPCLI, and The Canadian Airborne Regiment and also served in Maritime Forces Pacific (MARPAC). He is secretary of the Mark Isfield Memorial Chapter of the Canadian Association of Veterans in United Nations Peacekeeping (CAVUNP), the National President of the International Community for the Relief of Starvation and Suffering (ICROSS Canada) and an active contributor to the International War Veterans Poetry Archives. Queen's Own officer remembered in Oshawa Queen's Own Rifles of Canada Capt. Shawn Stewart (left) with award recipient Dhahran Rana and Maxwell Heights SS teacher Brad Ledgerwood. Click the Image Above to Launch the In 2011 Maxwell Heights Secondary School in Oshawa and the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada created an annual award to be presented in honour of a local public school teacher who had been killed in France following D-Day. Lieutenant Bruce H. Roberts, described in the Regimental History as “an officer who had proven himself,” had survived the fierce Battle of Carpiquet, near Caen, which cost the lives of many Canadian soldiers, only to be killed by a stray shell while the troops took a brief rest. The former teacher at Oshawa’s King Street Public School had joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1942 and was with The Queen’s Own Rifles when they stormed the beaches of Normandy on 6 June, 1944. He lies today in Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery in Normandy, with more than 2,000 other men from all parts of Canada. Recipient of the first Bruce McRoberts-Queen’s Own Rifles Award was Dhahran Rana, who was selected as a student who “Demonstrated values and deportment consistent with the core beliefs of The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada, such as academic excellence, dependability, leadership and integrity of character.” In addition to $200, Ms. Rana also received a commemorative plaque. The award, which includes a cash donation, was created by Queen’s Own Rifles Capt Shawn Stewart and Maxwell Heights teacher Brad Ledgerwood. On Remembrance Day, Capt Stewart and Mr. Ledgerwood, accompanied by a number of Maxwell Heights students were among the many present at the Remembrance Day ceremonies at the Oshawa Cenotaph where they laid a wreath from The Queen’s Own Rifles in memory of Lt McRoberts. Second QOR Fenian Raid Marker Dedicated Rifleman Malcolm McKenzie's new marker Click the Image Above to Launch the All photos by Ron Craig. On 12 November, 2011, The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada dedicated a new marker and laid a wreath at the grave of one of the Regiment’s first battle casualties, a young man who lost his life fighting Fenian raiders at Ridgeway, Ontario, on 2 June, 1866. The ceremony took place in Woodstock, Ontario, at the gravesite in the Presbyterian Cemetery of Rifleman Malcolm McKenzie. He was one of nine members of The Queen’s Own Rifles who were killed and 27 wounded in the short, sharp battle which ensued when a brigade of U.S.-based Fenian invaders met British regulars and Canadian militia volunteers in Ridgeway, near Niagara Falls. Rifleman McKenzie, a farmer’s son from Zorra, near Woodstock, a student at University College in Toronto, was the first in his company to fall, killed instantly with a shot to the heart. Earlier that day, in Niagara Falls, a similar ceremony was held at the gravesite of 21-year-old Rifleman John Mewburn, another University of Toronto student killed in the battle. The Fenian forces, members of a movement initiated by Irish-Americans to secure Irish independence from Britain, were augmented by battle-hardened Americans who had fought in the U.S. Civil War, which had ended only a little over one year previous. A group of 30 from the Regiment attended led by the former Commanding Officer of The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada, LCol John Fotheringham CD and current RSM/CWO Mark Shannon CD. They included serving members of the Regiment in uniform, as well as Skirmishers in period uniforms, members of the Toronto Branch of The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada Association, the Regimental Padre, Capt John Niles and bugler Cpl Raj Rajkumar who sounded Last Post and Reveille. A flag party and a piper also participated in the ceremony, representing the local branch of the Royal Canadian Legion. Also in attendance was Peter Vronsky, author of the new book “Ridgeway – The American Fenian Invasion and the 1866 Battle that Made Canada.” With this dedication, all nine soldiers now lie beneath similar markers. “This was a project which was initiated over ten years ago,” LCol Fotheringham said, “and I have to say that much of the credit for it goes to three people – my wife Kim, whose idea it was, The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada Museum Curator Peter Simundson, who aided Kim in the research, and Col Paul Hughes, our Honorary Colonel, who funded it.” He said that “Kim’s passions are genealogy and history and while researching her own family history she discovered that the gravestones of those killed at Ridgeway had weathered greatly over the previous 140 years or more and asked whether they could be refurbished. Which is where the idea of replacing them took root. Col Hughes agreed to underwrite the considerable cost of doing all nine and now, finally, the project is completed.” The old soldier down the street With the permission of The Vancouver Sun we are reprinting an article the newspaper published on 10 November, focusing on Colonel Neville A. (Robbie) Robinson CD, former Commanding Officer of 2nd Battalion, The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada, a unit of the Canadian Regular Army. As LCol Robinson, he commanded the battalion in 1968 when, on its return to Calgary's Currie Barracks from a six-month posting to Cyprus, it was announced that it was to be reduced to nil strength. On 15 September, 1968 it was placed on the Supplementary Order of Battle List. Excerpted from the Regimental publication the Powder Horn, the Battalion's last moments were described this way: "With the single drummer beating the Colonel’s drum, the Pioneer axes reflecting the last rays of the twilight, the companies in column of route with rank after rank of chests with the blue and white of the United Nations medals, Second Battalion, The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada marched off the parade square of Currie Barracks at 2055 hours on 15 July, 1968 and into the pages of history."The old soldier down the street Vancouver Sun November 10, 2011 By Pete McMartin Robbie Robinson is a neighbour. He lives three streets over. We met one day while he was walking his dogs, two fractious little terriers. I liked him immediately and thought him one of the nicest men I had ever met. He has a lovely British accent and a kind way about him. He is in his late 80s. One day he asked me if he could come around and collect any empty wine bottles I might have. I said yes, thinking he might need some extra cash in his retirement. That was not the case at all: I found out he collected bottles and donated the money he got for them to Children's Hospital. He had done it for years. He started showing up at my house every couple of weeks and putting our empties in his trunk. I got to know him better over the years. He called himself "Robbie," but his first name was really Neville, which, he said, "was not overused." Someone told me he was in the Second World War, and I asked him if that were true, and he said yes, he had been a paratrooper in the British army. I asked him, as in jumping out of a plane? Yes, he said, as in jumping out of a plane. He joined up in 1941, he told me, just after turning 17. His mother wrote him a note stating he was 18. Everyone was doing it, Robbie said: the country needed men. The family was no stranger to war. His father died in 1930 from complications of wounds he suffered in 1916 during the First World War. He was wounded at the Battle of the Somme, and lay in No Man's Land for two days before the British were able to rescue him. Over a million men lost their lives in the battle. Robbie's father had 36 pieces of shrapnel in his body when he died. Robbie's battalion was sent to North Africa in 1942. A U-boat torpedoed their troop ship en route. The attack came at night. Robbie was asleep on one of the lowest decks, and he remembers the terror of making his way up the crowded ladder wells while the ship started to keel over. He made it out on deck, then jumped to the deck of a destroyer that had pulled up alongside. His battalion's first engagement, in Tunisia, was a mess. They missed the drop zone. Seven hundred men were scattered 80 kilometres behind enemy lines. Robbie was in a group of less than a dozen soldiers, and they had to fight their way out, hiding during the day and travelling at night. They came under constant fire and survived a mortar attack. It took them four days to reach the British. "We lost about half the battalion in those few days," Robbie said. Of that time in North Africa, he spoke of local tribespeople torturing and killing wounded soldiers; French authorities summarily executing Arabs who tried to cross the battle lines at night (Robbie heard the chatter of the firing squads' machineguns); and a French Berber unit that had a penchant for collecting the ears of German soldiers as war prizes. The shrivelled ears hung from their belts, Robbie said. "I don't honestly remember being shocked by any of it," he said. "You get pretty hardened pretty quickly." After North Africa, he and his battalion moved on to Sicily, where they were assigned to take a bridge. On the flight in, they were shot at by the invading U.S. and British armadas, which mistook their airplanes for German. The planes scattered, and Robbie's unit missed their drop zone again. They had to fight their way to their objective in the black of night, with tracer bullets the only things visible. Robbie shot at wherever he saw a muzzle flash. He never did have to kill the enemy up close, he said, and, for that matter, never knew if he had killed anyone. For that, he said, he was thankful. Of 1,800 paratroopers in that operation, 400 made it to the drop zone. Robbie was among those who took the bridge, and then lost it. The bridge was retaken days later when the British main army arrived. He remembers seeing his commanding officer having his wounds being attended to on the bridge deck. His commanding officer had been shot in the ass. After Sicily, Robbie's unit moved to the Italian mainland, taking the naval base at Taranto and an airfield at Bari. There was no resistance. The enemy had fled. The only time his battalion came under fire was from a Canadian unit, who had mistaken them for Germans. Days later came a stroke of good fortune. Robbie was shipped back to England for officers training. The war ended before his return to the front. "I was extremely lucky," Robbie said. In the years to come, he would leave the British army and join the Canadian armed forces, which was looking for officers during the Korean War. He was posted to Korea - again, luckily, after the fighting had ended - then to Palestine on a peacekeeping stint, then to a high-level job at NATO headquarters in Brussels, and then, finally, to Vancouver. He would retire a colonel. "Joining the Canadian armed forces was the second-smartest thing I ever did in my life," he said. "The first was marrying Brenda." Their 60th anniversary is next year. He has two grown children and two grandchildren. He enjoys the peace he fought to win, and would wish war away if he could. He carries with him, though, a lifetime's experience that causes him doubt. "It's an awfully wasteful way to go about life. ... I lost some really good friends during the war. And if there were ways to go about things without going to war, I'd be in favour of it. But I don't think there is." Nowadays, I often see Robbie at the local community gym. He had a stroke a few years ago, and goes to the gym for light exercise. Sometimes when he walks in, looking a little frail, the big young weightlifters in their tank tops will be bench-pressing an improbable weight, and they will occasionally glance over at Robbie doing arm curls with little two-pound barbells. The gym attendant hovers over him while he exercises. I always wonder who the weightlifters think they are seeing when they look at him. © Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun Queen’s Own Rifles Fenian Raid Marker Dedicated Rifleman John Mewburn's Memorial Plaque Click the Image Above to Launch the On 12 November, 2011, The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada dedicated a new marker and laid a wreath at the grave of one of the Regiment’s first battle casualties, a young man who lost his life fighting Fenian raiders at Ridgeway, Ontario, on 2 June, 1866. The ceremony took place in Niagara Falls in the gravesite at the Parish of St. John the Evangelist of Rifleman John Harriman Mewburn. He was one of nine members of The Queen’s Own Rifles who were killed and 27 wounded in the short, sharp battle which ensued when a brigade of U.S.-based Fenian invaders met British regulars and Canadian militia volunteers in Ridgeway, near Niagara Falls. Rifleman Mewburn, who was a 21-year-old University College student from Stamford, Ontario, suffered a head injury, was captured by the Fenian raiders and died in their custody. The Fenian forces, members of a movement initiated by Irish-Americans to secure Irish independence from Britain, were augmented by battle-hardened Americans who had fought in the U.S. Civil War, which had ended only a little over one year previous. A group of 30 from the Regiment attended led by the former Commanding Officer of The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada, LCol John Fotheringham CD and current RSM/CWO Mark Shannon CD. They included serving members of the Regiment in uniform, as well as Skirmishers in period uniforms, members of the Toronto Branch of The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada Association, the Regimental Padre, Capt John Niles and bugler Cpl Raj Rajkumar who sounded Last Post and Reveille. Also participating in the ceremony were the Rector of the Parish of St. John, The Venerable Lynne Marchat and Peter Vronsky, author of the new book “Ridgeway – The American Fenian Invasion and the 1866 Battle that Made Canada”. Colonel Paul Hughes, CD, Honorary Colonel of The Queen’s Own Rifles, donated funds to mark the rapidly deteriorating graves of all nine of the Regiment's first casualties as part of its 150th anniversary commemorative activities. The Regiment, formed in 1860, celebrated its Sesquicentennial in 2010. This marker, and one in Woodstock which was dedicated later in the day, are the last two markers to be replaced. The others are in Toronto’s Necropolis Cemetery. “The historic events in Niagara Falls and Woodstock link the past to the present, recognizing the first casualties of a Toronto-based Regiment that has been honouring its motto of In Pace Paratus (In Peace Prepared) in Canada for more than 150 years,” LCol Fotheringham said. Regiment honours Falls soldier who died during Battle of Ridgeway in 1866  Monday, November 14, 2001 By RAY SPITERI Niagara Falls Review A century-and-a-half after losing his life fighting Fenian raiders in Ridgeway — and a day after Remembrance Day — John Mewburn, of Niagara Falls, was honoured by his regiment during the weekend. Serving members from The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada, as well as pioneers and skirmishers in period costume, gathered at Mewburn's grave site Saturday morning at St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church on Portage Rd. They dedicated a new gravestone and laid a wreath at his burial site. A bugler sounded the last post and reveille. Mewburn, who was a 21-year-old university student and resident of Stamford, now a suburb of Niagara Falls, was among nine members of The Queen's Own killed, and 27 wounded, when a brigade of U.S.-based Fenian invaders met British regulars and Canadian militia at Bertie and Ridge rds. on June 2, 1866. Canada didn't officially exist yet, but the Fenian raids provided some impetus for Confederation a year later. Peter Vronsky, author of the new book Ridgeway: The American Fenian Invasion and the 1866 Battle That Made Canada, said Mewburn was in his third year at the University of Toronto when he was called to battle. "He was … with a volunteer company of university students that served with The Queen's Own Rifles," said Vronsky. "And on June 1st, he was called out from his final exams to go to Ridgeway to defend Canada against the Fenian invaders. He sustained a head wound. He was left on the field and he died in Fenian custody. The Fenians behaved relatively gallantly everywhere, but in this one case, they treated him rather roughly. He was tied, thrown onto a floor of a cabin and he died on the floor of a cabin." A dedication service was also held Saturday in Woodstock, at the grave site of rifleman Malcolm McKenzie. Mewburn and McKenzie were two of the regiment's first battle casualties. Paul Hughes, a colonel with The Queen's Own, donated funds to replace the rapidly deteriorating gravestones of all nine of the regiment's first casualties. It was part of the regiment's 150th anniversary commemorative activities. The regiment, which formed in 1860, celebrated its sesquicentennial in 2010. "The Queen's Own Rifles is the oldest continuously serving regiment in Canada," said Capt. Charles McGregor. "These were the first soldiers killed in battle in our regiment — they were the only soldiers killed in battle as a matter of fact that day in Ridgeway, so you get some idea of where they were, they were obviously at the front. "We just felt that it was important to our history to make sure that this was recognized and that's what we have done over a period of the last two years — we've done the whole of these markers, except these last two today." McGregor said the Mewburn family owned a lot of property in Stamford. "If you look through the graveyard, you'll find many other tombstones to the Mewburn family, so he's essentially with his family now." McGregor said it's events such as Saturday's, as well as Remembrance Day, that continue to remind Canadians how past sacrifices have helped shaped this country. "Some of our soldiers, some of our veterans, a few of them here today, go to the schools and talk to the children about what they have done during their military lives, and why the military is so important to a country like Canada," he said. "Canada is not an aggressive county, but our motto, the regimental motto, is In Peace Prepared, and that's what we have always done, ever since the beginning." McGregor said The Queen's Own continue to serve Canada. They sent more than 70 riflemen to Afghanistan, where three were awarded medals for their actions on the field. The Queen's Own is a reserve unit of around 200 soldiers based in Toronto. After the Fenian raids, service in the Northwest Rebellion in western Canada and the Boer War, The Queen's Own earned a distinguished record in both world wars, with seven members awarded the Victoria Cross. It also had the costly honour of being the only Toronto regiment to land in the first wave on Juno Beach in Normandy on D-Day. New Book on the Battle of Ridgeway Launched  The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada’s Officer's and Sergeant's Messes were in use as an overflow crowd attended the launch of a new book “Ridgeway – The American Fenian Invasion and the 1866 Battle that Made Canada”. Author Peter Vronsky, who was introduced by WO (Ret) Bob Dunk, gave a brief address concerning his research and writing of the book on the battle on 2 June 1866 which cost the lives of nine members of The Queen’s Own Rifles. He noted that these nine have never been recognized in the official rolls of Canadian War Dead kept by the federal government and is resolved to do what he can to ensure this is corrected. That the nine dead from The Queen's Own were the only fatal casualties that day would suggest the regiment's young soldiers, many of them university students, bore the brunt of the enemy attack.
Also present were members of the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry whose troops were among the militia members at the short, sharp encounter against Fenian raiders from the U.S., mainly veterans of the U.S. Civil War, which had ended just a year before.
Royal Hamilton Light Infantry 1866 Drill Team
Guests at the book launch fill the QOR Officer's Mess
Commanding Officers LCol Dan Stepaniuk (RHLI) and Peter St. Denis (QOR) are flanked by soldiers in 1866 era uniforms
Author Peter Vronsky signs a copy of his book for Queen's Own Rifles of Canada RSM/CWO Shaun Kelly CD Regimental Remembrance Day Church Parade Queen`s Own Rifles Skirmishers lead the Regiment Click the Image Above to Launch the A new face in the Battalion Orderly Room at MPA 
The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada has a new Chief Clerk, Petty Officer 2nd Class Karen Nickerson, who has taken over from the very capable Sergeant June Parris, following her posting to The 48th Highlanders.PO2 Nickerson was born in Pembroke, Ontario, but now regards Oromocto, New Brunswick as her home town, since that is where she has lived the longest. Her father, now retired, served with the Royal Canadian Artillery in Petawawa, Shilo, Manitoba and in Germany. Then, back to Petawawa, Valcartier, Quebec and finally to Gagetown. In 1984 PO2 Nickerson was married to a member of the Canadian Forces and then found herself in Lahr, Germany, Sydney, Nova Scotia, CFB Shearwater and back to CFB Gagetown. It was then, in December, 2002, when she joined the Canadian Navy. Before being posted to The Queen’s Own Rifles, she served until 2010 at CFB Gagetown, from 2003 – 2007 RCA (Royal Canadian Artillery School); 2007-2008, 3 Area Support Group, HQ Gagetown and 2008-2010, 3 ASG Comptroller Branch. She served in the Area Service Unit in Toronto until taking over from Sgt Parris earlier this year in the Battalion Orderly Room of The Queen’s Own Rifles at Moss Park Armoury. PO2 Nickerson has two children. Son Steven, 25, is in 2 Service Battalion stationed at CFB Petawawa with his wife, Candace and one month old son, Brady. Steven deploys to Afghanistan in February, 2012. Daughter Nicole, 23 lives in Petitcodiac, New Brunswick with her daughter, Alexis who is four and son Landon, who is two. The new Chief Clerk can be reached at KAREN.NICKERSON@FORCES.GC.CA or at 416-635-2761. Presentation to the Colonel-in-Chief
The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada's Honorary Colonel, Paul F. Hughes, CD, and Mrs. Bev Hughes were in London recently to meet with the regiment's new Colonel-in-Chief, Her Royal Highness Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. They took the opportunity to present her with a diamond-encrusted brooch fashioned in the shape of the Queen's Own Rifles Cap Badge. The Colonel-in-Chief said she would like to wear the brooch on Sunday, 13 November, when she accompanies Charles, The Prince of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at the Remembrance Day Service at the Cenotaph in London.
<< Previous Page | Next Page >> |
We are pleased you can now donate to the Trust Fund through our on-line giving partner CanadaHelps.org. Please click on the button above to make your donation. |
|
"In Pace Paratus - In Peace Prepared" |
|
