Billy Bishop - World War I Services

World War I Services

When the First World War broke out in later in 1914, Bishop left RMC and joined the Mississauga Horse cavalry regiment. He was commissioned as an officer but was ill with pneumonia when the regiment was sent overseas. After recovering, he was transferred to the 8th Canadian Mounted Rifles, a mounted infantry unit, then stationed in London, Ontario. Bishop showed a natural ability with a gun, and excelled on the firing range. His seemingly "super-human" eyesight allowed him to put bullets in a target placed so far away others saw only a dot. They left Canada for England on 6 June 1915 on board the requisitioned cattle ship Caledonia. On 21 June, off the coast of Ireland, the ship's convoy came under attack by U-boats. Two ships were sunk and 300 Canadians died, but Bishop's ship remained unharmed, arriving in Plymouth Harbour on 23 June.

Read more about this topic:  Billy Bishop

Famous quotes containing the words world war, world, war and/or services:

    The battle for the mind of Ronald Reagan was like the trench warfare of World War I: never have so many fought so hard for such barren terrain.
    Peggy Noonan (b. 1950)

    The sort of morality which the priests inculcate is a very subtle policy, far finer than the politicians’, and the world is very successfully ruled by them as the policemen.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.
    John Adams (1735–1826)

    Working women today are trying to achieve in the work world what men have achieved all along—but men have always had the help of a woman at home who took care of all the other details of living! Today the working woman is also that woman at home, and without support services in the workplace and a respect for the work women do within and outside the home, the attempt to do both is taking its toll—on women, on men, and on our children.
    Jeanne Elium (20th century)