The Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary's) - Deployments

Deployments

The Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary's) is actively involved in sending troops to various Canadian missions around the world.

As of 2012, all members of the regiment who were serving on combat operations with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in Afghanistan have returned home.

Members of The Canadian Scottish Regiment have also been involved in peacekeeping missions; notably in Egypt, Golan Heights, Cyprus, Croatia, Bosnia, and Sierra Leone.

The regiment originated on 3 September 1912 when the 88th Regiment, Victoria Fusiliers, was authorised. When the 16th (Canadian Scottish) Battalion, CEF, was created in 1914, it drew on soldiers from four separate regiments – the 50th Regiment (Gordon Highlanders of Canada) in Victoria, the 72nd Seaforth Highlanders of Canada in Vancouver, the 79th Regiment (Cameron Highlanders of Canada) in Winnipeg, and the 91st Canadian Highlanders (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders) in Hamilton. The desire was to not perpetuate specific regimental identities and so the new battalion was simply referred to as "Canadian Scottish".

The 16th Battalion served in the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Canadian Division. Since its early beginnings, the battalion had a high standard of conduct on the battlefield and was commanded by outstanding leaders. One such was Lieutenant General Sir Arthur Currie who rose to command the Canadian Corps during the First World War. Currie was a master tactician whose skills led the Canadians to victory at the Vimy Ridge, the Amiens, and the intense Last Hundred Days campaign which ended the Great War.

Four members of the 16th Battalion were awarded the Victoria Cross. Lieutenant Colonel Cyrus Peck commanded the battalion for many months in the trenches. Piper James Richardson was just 18 years old when he enlisted, and was killed during the Battle of the Somme shortly after having played his company through No Man's Land. He disappeared in shellfire after going back to retrieve the bagpipes he laid aside to bring back a wounded comrade. Piper James Richardson's Pipes were returned to the Regiment in the 2000s after being found on display at a private school in Scotland due to research initiated by Pipe Major Roger McGuire. They were received in Victoria at a ceremony on the lawn on the Parlament Building.

After the war, the battalion disbanded, and in the 1920 reorganisation of the Militia, in the wake of the work of the Otter Commission, a new regiment was created amalgamating the 50th Regiment and the 88th Regiment Victoria Fusiliers, and named "The Canadian Scottish Regiment". The suffix "(Princess Mary's)" followed later, in 1948.

The Canadian Scottish were unique in 1939 in having two battalions on the strength of the Canadian Militia. The 1st Battalion was mobilised for overseas service in 1940 and trained in Debert, Nova Scotia, until August 1941, from where it moved to the United Kingdom as part of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. On 6 June 1944 C Company was in the first wave ashore in Normandy on Juno Beach, the rest of the battalion following in the second wave. The battalion proceeded to advance a total of six miles – farther than any other assault brigade of the British Second Army that day. The regiment went on to earn 17 battle honours, including the liberation of Wagenborgen, a small Dutch village. The last honour was not awarded until the 1990s.