Topic: Battle Honours
Perpetuation — Work of Several Years
War Records of 600,000 Canadians Were Examined
Montreal Gazette, 30 September 1929
(By Canadian Press)
Ottawa, September 29.—Final approval has now been secured from His Majesty the King for the emblazoning on the regimental colour of Canadian permanent and non-permanent active militia units the honours won by those regiments during the World War. At present 68 regiments have been given definite sanction to embroider those honours on their colour, and in due course the remainder of the militia will receive authority according to the qualifications of the regiments concerned. Thus a question that has consumed several years, and that has involved little short of scanning the war records of every one of the 600,000 Canadians who served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, is settled once and for all. Every one of the "fighting" battalions of the Canadian Corps—50 in number—is perpetuated in the non-active militia (exclusive of the three infantry regiments of the permanent force). The perpetuating unit, therefore, has been accorded the right to carry the honours won by its corresponding Canadian Corps battalion.
There were, however, 260 battalions raised for overseas, and practically every man of these saw active service in one or other of the "fighting" battalions. The problem of how to award honours to those militia regiments who perpetuate the 210 battalions that were broken up in England to reinforce the Corps was a thorny one. The solution was reached only after months of deliberation. It was finally decided that where it could be shown that a minimum of 250 men from a reinforcing battalion participated in any engagement for which a Battle Honour was awarded, the militia regiment which perpetuates that battalion would be entitled to carry the Honour on its colour. Inasmuch as the men from such battalions were not infrequently distributed in small drafts among a number of Canadian Corps battalions, the necessity of closely checking the movements of practically every man—or at least, every group of men—was obvious. It was also arduous and painstaking work.
Toronto and Ontario
Thirty-one Ontario militia regiments have been given authority to carry the Battle Honours in this, the first allotment made. These, together with the Canadian Expeditionary Force units they perpetuate, are:
The following Toronto units:
- The Mississauga Horse (4th Canadian Mounted Rifles)
- The Queen's Own Rifles (83rd, 95th, 166th, and 255th Battalions, C.E.F.)
- The Royal Grenadiers (58th Battalion, C.E.F.)
- The 48th Highlanders (15th, and 134th Battalions, C.E.F.)
- The Queen's Rangers, 1st American Regiment (20th, and 35th Battalions, C.E.F.)
- The Toronto Scottish (75th, 84th, and 170th Battalions, C.E.F.)
The following city and country regiments:
- The Canadian Fusiliers, of London (1st, 33rd, and 142nd Battalions, C.E.F.)
- The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry, of Hamilton (the 4th and 204th Battalions, C.E.F., and the 86th Machine Gun Battalion)
- The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada, Hamilton (the 19th Battalion, C.E.F.)
- The Princess of Wales Own Regiment of Kingston (21st Battalion, C.E.F.)
- The Dufferin Rifles of Canada, Brantford (the 4th Battalion, the 36th and 125th Battalions, C.E.F.)
- The Peterborough Rangers, Peterborough (the 2nd Battalion, C.E.F.)
- The Ottawa Highlanders, Ottawa (the 38th Battalion, C.E.F.)
- The Essex Scottish of Windsor, Ont. (the 18th, 99th and 241st Battalions, C.E.F.)
- The Lake Superior Regiment of Port Arthur, Ont. (the 52nd, and 141st Battalions, C.E.F.)
- The Ontario Regiment of Oshawa (the 1616th and the 182nd Battalions, C.E.F.)
- The Halton Rifles of Georgetown (the 37th Battalion, C.E.F.)
- The Oxford Rifles of Woodstock (the 71st and 168th Battalions, C.E.F.)
- The Elgin Regiment of St. Thomas (the 91st Battalion, C.E.F.)
- The Sault Ste. Marie Regiment of Sault Ste. Marie (the 119th and the 227th Battalions, C.E.F.)
- The Northern Pioneers of Huntsville (the 122nd Battalion, C.E.F.)
- The Wentworth Regiment of Dundas (129th Battalion, C.E.F.)
- The Middlesex Light Infantry of Strathroy, Ont. (the 135th Battalion, C.E.F.)
- The Grey Regiment of Owen Sound (147th Battalion, C.E.F.)
- The Bruce Regiment of Walkerton (160th Battalion, C.E.F.)
- The Huron Regiment of Goderich (161st Battalion, C.E.F.)
- The Lincoln Regiment of St. Catharines (176th Battalion, C.E.F.)
- The Simcoe Foresters of Barrie (177th Battalion, C.E.F.)
- The Kent Regiment of Chatham (186th Battalion, C.E.F.)
Typical Honour List
Only ten battle honours of the War may be embroidered on the regimental colour, irrespective of how many the unit concerned may be entitled to. Regiments, however, are credited with all honours in the Militia List. Those which are borne on the colour appear in the Militia List in heavy type, while those not carried on the colour are printed in ordinary light-face type. An illustration of this is furnished in the Peterborough Rangers, for example, which perpetuates the 2nd Canadian Infantry Battalion. The battle in capital letters will be carried on the colour, while those in small letters are credited only to the Militia List, as follows:
"YPRES, 1915, '17," "Gravenstafel," "ST. JULIEN," "FESTUBERT, 1915," "Mount Sorrel," "SOMME, 1916," "Pozieres," "Flers-Courcelette," "Ancre Heights," "ARRAS," "1917, '18," "VIMY, 1917," "Arleux," "Scarpe, 1917, '18," "HILL 70," "PASSCHENDAELE," "Amiens," "Drocourt-Queant," "HINDENBURG LINE," "Canal du Nord," "Pursuit to Mons," "FRANCE AND FLANDERS, 1915-18"
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