CANADIAN GUARDS FLASH COLORS IN FAREWELL

(Copied from The Spectator, Saturday, June 6, 1970)

OTTAWA (CP) -Red tunics flashing under a dull grey sky, The Canadian Guards paraded for Governor-General Roland Michener, Saturday, then marched smartly off Parliament Hill and off the roll of active Canadian military regiments.

Several thousand people watched as the Guards, formed in 1953 with the Queen as Colonel-in-Chief, trooped the Colour for the last time.

The Regiment is one of three being "reduced to nil strength" -meaning they will survive only on paper - under military cuts announced last year by Defence Minister Leo Cadieux. The others are the Queen's Own Rifles of Canada, and the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada.

The 324 officers and men parading Saturday were from the Guards' 2nd Battalion, based at Camp Petawawa, the last surviving of four battalions that originally made up the Regiment. The 3rd and 4th Battalions were scrapped in 1957, and the 1 st Battalion suffered the same fate in 1968.

The 2nd Battalion is to be re-designated as the 3rd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment.

Mr. Michener, dressed in a dark blue ceremonial uniform with plenty of gold braid travelled to and from Parliament Hill in a horse-drawn state landau, escorted by a mounted RCMP detachment carrying red and white pennants.

After the colourful trooping ceremony was over, the Governor-General read a message from the Queen expressing her pride and satisfaction in the service her regiment had given Canada during its "short but glorious history".

She said she was grateful for the honour of having served as Colonel-in-Chief. Major-General Roger Rowley, Regimental Colonel, said every officer and guardsman had been honoured to serve the sovereign and his country, in Canada, as well as abroad.

The Regiment has served in Korea, Germany, Cyprus and Denmark. Individual members have also served in the Congo, Vietnam, Pakistan, Lebanon, and other trouble spots where the United Nations has observer groups.

The Regiment will be glad to serve again if Canada ever requires its services, said General Rowley.

Before the Guards marched off the parade lawn, Colours of 13 individual companies - one each for the 10 provinces, Northwest Territories, Yukon, and City of Ottawa - were marched off to the tune of Auld Lang Syne and The Maple Leaf Forever.

Because the Guards' band was disbanded some months ago, music was provided by the Central Armed Forces Band, but with a Regimental Pipe And Drum Corps.

As the thin red lines of troops passed before the reviewing stand and specially erected bleachers for the last time, the bands played three tunes. They were The Standard Of St. George, The Centennial Pipe Medley, and The Old Grey Mare (she ain't what she used to be).

Later, by special arrangement with Queen Elizabeth and Mr. Michener, the Queen's and Regimental Colours were "laid up" at Rideau Hall, the vice-regal residence.

Mr and Mrs Michener then gave a garden party for the Guards and their families.

HISTORY OF THE CANADIAN GUARDS IS A SAD TALE

(Copied from The Spectator, Wednesday, October 25,1989)

Some weeks ago, we mentioned the reunion of The Canadian Guards, and promised to say more about it later.

That promise has been drawn to mind by a reader who says he never heard of such a unit, and doubts if it ever existed.

The Regiment Of Canadian Guards no longer appears in the order of battle, it is true, and existed for such a brief period that readers might be pardoned for their lack of knowledge of it. Yet, during its short lifetime, it was the senior infantry regiment in the Canadian Army, and, for a time, the largest. What happened to it?

The history of The Canadian Guards is a sad tale of great expectations crushed by political machinations, and many veterans have not forgotten nor forgiven the injury.

Credit for the formation of The Guards is usually awarded to Lieutenant-General Guy Simonds, who came to prominence during the Second World War and, during the post-war period, became the Chief of the Canadian General Staff.

It was during the immediate post-war period, when the Canadian Army was going through the painful throes of adjusting to peacetime re-organization, that Gen. Simonds pushed for the creation of a brand-new unit which would be distinctively Canadian, yet enjoy close links with the best of the British Army to create a tradition of military excellence.

In 1953, Gen Simonds' dream came true with the formation of The Regiment Of Canadian Guards, to consist of four regular battalions, one of which would be French speaking, plus two militia battalions.

It was an ambitious plan - perhaps too ambitious - and the birth of the new unit was difficult, with other regiments opposing its creation, partly out of jealousy when it was annouced that, as a Guards regiment, it was automatically senior to all other infantry units in the Canadian Army.

Nevertheless, with Gen. Simonds' backing, the new regiment persevered and was building a firm foundation for the future when, in 1970, as part of the government's plan to economize by reducing the size of the Canadian Army, The Guards were summarily disbanded. Gen. Simonds had retired, and, despite other officer's herculean efforts to preserve it, the government insisted The Guards had to go.

Much of the blame for killing the new unit was levelled at certain factions in government who, opposing traditional links with Anglo-Saxon institutions of any nature, gleefully administered the coup de grace on the ostensible grounds of economy while, in reality, using that merely as an excuse for smashing one more link with our British heritage.

Admittedly, some other units secretly rejoiced at the downfall of the upstart Guards, but even those who sympathized with them were too busy fending off concurrent attempts to eradicate all Canadian units showing any taint of "British" qualities to spare much concern for the doomed regiment.

So, The Canadian Guards vanished after only some 16 years of life.

The unit never saw active service. The Regimental Colours bore no battle honors. Yet, it is a measure of the loyalty the unit engendered in its members that, almost 20 years later, a large crowd of Guards veterans gathered at the recent reunion in Petawawa and exhibited undiminished regimental pride and esprit de corps.

Some swear the Guards will not die until the last survivor perishes. It seems a likely prophecy.

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