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John Ward

Tickled pink

Officers in the RCN share with the RN the privilege of drinking the loyal toast to the sovereign while seated. Those in other services must stand. It’s said the naval dispensation from standing dates to the days of King William IV. He was apparently dining aboard ship as a cadet and banged his head on an overhead beam when rising for the toast. He promptly exempted naval officers from standing. The tradition continues to this day.

Taking the field

Peter Cannon of Paisley, Ont., has a story about a 1983 summer exercise with the Grey and Simcoe Foresters, which was staged at a farm owned by one of the regiment’s senior non-commissioned officers (NCOs). The unit

Sudden surrender

Kathy Beaupre of Geraldton, Ont., sent along a copy of an article published, probably in the 1960s, in the Fort William Daily Times Journal (long ago

Swordless salute

On approaching the dais at a Royal Military College of Canada parade, the officer at the head of a troop lowered his sword in salute.

Deerly departed

Alex Gauthier, a retired sergeant from the Governor General’s Foot Guards, recalls a reserves exercise at CFB Petawawa in August 1984.  As a corporal with

Biscuits in Bed

Many Canadian soldiers arriving in Britain at the start of the Second World War found themselves billeted at Aldershot, which had been a training ground

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