Blog Posts - THE ELGIN MILITARY MUSEUM

THE ELGIN MILITARY MUSEUM

Life Before the Front - Sandling Camp

11/29/2017

From One of the Lads

The Following Letter from Lance-Corporal A.l. Satchell, was written to his mother Mrs. Emma Satchell, 52 Maple Street. He left with the 91st Battalion and is now with the 12th Reserve Battalion. His sisters are Mrs. A.W. Osborne, Fifth Avenue, Mrs. Wall, 60 Chestnut Street and Mrs. H. Osborne, 52 Maple Street.

St. Thomas Journal Sept 15, 1916

Life Before the Front

H-Hour

6/4/2017

About the Author

Capt. N.M. McDougall, of the Elgin Regiment, transferred to Brigade Headquarters and, for the D-Day operation, served as a tank unit landing officer with the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade. His job was to reconnoiter areas for tank operations. In 1945, the President of the Provisional French Government, General Charles DeGaulle, presented McDougall with the Croix de Guerre avec Etoile de Vermeil for his actions during the D-Day landing.

H-Hour

When daylight came, we saw the magnitude of the operation. There were ships as far as one could see. At H-Hour, massive attacks on the beach defences were begun by naval units while bombers attacked from air. The biggest naval guns were directed at targets inland and they were still firing inland more than six weeks after D-Day. The shells coming through the sky sounded like trains as they passed over overhead.

The rocket ships provided the most spectacular sights. The rockets went off in groups of ten or so, with only seconds between groups. It was a fiery show as hundreds of rockets were shot from the banks of pipes on the decks of the rocket ships.

Prelude to D-Day

6/4/2017

D-Day for Elgin Mac McDougall

On the eve of the 50th Anniversary of the D-Day invasion, Elgin Military Museum Board Member Mac McDougall recalled his uniquely positioned memories of those events for the St. Thomas Times Journal.

EMM Remembers Norma Chamberlain

5/31/2017

The sudden death of Norma Chamberlain [1927-2017] on Friday, May 26th comes as a shock. Norma had a firm grip on what it means to remember our military heritage and the importance of service to our community. The wife of the late Lt. Col. Robert Chamberlain, a founding member and former Chairman of the Elgin Military Museum, she made a significant contribution to the evolution of the museum in her own right. For Ian, Melissa and myself (Catherine), she and ‘Bomber’ were always a part of our lives and will continue to be in our memories.

Lt. Colonel Robert Chamberlain, MC, C St.J, CD

12/15/2016

Lt. Colonel Robert S. Chamberlain, MC, C St. J, CD - A lifetime of service with the Perth Regiment with whom he served during WW II winning the Military Cross in Italy; the Elgin Regiment as Honorary Commanding Officer for 15 years, and with the Elgin Military Museum (seen above with Lt. Col. Ed King (centre) and Lord Elgin (right) in the Museum in the early 1980s).

Time Flies - Especially for a Top Gun

12/13/2016

Time sure does fly! Looking through the veteran's files at the Elgin Military Museum is one of my favourite things. It's a chance to see many of the names and faces of my childhood from an adult point of view. The stories I heard at gatherings on the lawn at our house on Hwy 4 and on the veranda at the cottage at Port Stanley take on a new dimension as I read through the files and move on to the war diaries. Those were the faces that had just come through WW II and before. I expect them to have a 'folder'.

It is slightly more alarming to come across an item announcing the 1994 retirement of someone who was a friend of my younger brothers at Wellington St. School! As I said, time flies and some are better at it than others. Bruce Robinson had a stellar career in the RCAF and went on to graduate from the US test pilot training school at Edwards Air Force Base in California - a real Top Gun.

Tuckered Tommy Enjoyed Open House

12/13/2016

Despite the first major snowfall of the season, the Christmas Open House at the Elgin Military Museum was a very pleasant gathering with stalwarts braving the storm to come even from London and Port Burwell. If you stayed to the end, you will understand the Tuckered Tommy! who found his way from the 1942 Room to this spot under the Christmas Tree. It was great to catch up with everyone and see what they are up to. Kudos to HMCS Ojibwa volunteer Carl Bagshaw who is one of the coordinators of Christmas Care in St. Thomas this year.

Festivities Start with Flowers

12/13/2016

Christmas begins at EMM with the arrival of festive flowers from Fellows Fernlea Flowers. Longtime friends of the museum, they carry on the tradition of support started by the late Regimental Sergeant Major Joe Fellows, one of the founding members of the Museum.

Honouring the Last Request

11/21/2016

Duty to the Dead

Honouring the last request of a comrade by writing to their family is a solemn commitment and one of the most difficult tasks those in service may have to perform.
Pte Hayes struggles to fulfill his promise knowing the pain that will ensue. He lightens the load with images of a peaceful passing in the full knowledge of the harsh realities of life and death at the front during the Great War; realities that he will carry with him until he too takes that last journey.

New Page added - Services for the Services

11/3/2016

New on The Services tab: Services for the Services. Check out the 'sports' on the event programme.

Hit the Dirt

9/20/2016

Boys in “C” Squadron Hit
the Dirt Fast When Bombing
Started on Normandy Beach

By Major F.O. Lewis, M.B.E.,
Commanding “C” Squadron, Elgin Regiment

Just prior to the invasion, “C” Squadron of the Elgins was stationed at Gosport on the southern coast of England. The men had been warned of air raids and told to dig slit trenches, as learned in previous training. But they had not done so. The second night the squadron was there, the German Air Force carried out a heavy raid on Portsmouth and Gosport and several bombs were dropped nearby. Don McLachlin, Charlie Raven and I went to get into our slit trench but found it was already occupied. The next morning there was dirt flying in all directions as the men dug deep into old Mother Earth.

E Squadron in Gala Dress

9/20/2016

“E” Squadron Is Rigged Up in Gala Dress
Incident at Cleve; First Experience With the Buzz-Bombs

By Major R.W. Rankin, M.B.E.
Commanding “E” Squadron, Elgin Regiment

Gala Dress

I left the Elgins in France to go with the British Army and Major Stewart Thomson, now in Toronto, took over command of “E” Squadron. It was in April a year ago that I learned the Squadron was over the border in Germany in a town called Cleve. I happened to be in that vicinity and decided to pay them a call. I arrived in the midst of one of the most amusing demonstrations I have ever witnessed.

Job Well Done

9/19/2016

“D” Looks Back on Job Well
Done; Hardships, Fun, Hard
Work and a Great Deal to See

Landed in Normandy in July, 1944, Then Until the End of Hostilities Helped in Chase Against Germans; Kept 14th Division Supplied with Reinforcements and Tanks

By Major W.B. Brodie
Commanding “D” Division, Elgin Regiment

A record of over 4,000 reinforcement personnel posted forward to armoured units, plus more than 800 armoured fighting vehicles, including tanks of various types, self propelled guns, flame throwers and armoured personnel carriers, is something for the members of ”D” Squadron, 25th Canadian Armoured Delivery Regiment, to look back on with pride in a job well done. Add to this the hardships, fun and hard work involved, plus the experience of seeing a lot of country and people in traveling from the coast of Normandy through France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. Altogether, enough happenings to give members of this squadron plenty to reminisce over in the years to come.

Good Men and True

9/19/2016

A” Squadron, With Good
Men and True, Moved Fast, Far Along the Italian Front

Was in the Initial Assault on Gustav and Hitler Lines; Worked Part of Time as Unit Under British Command. Kept Constantly on Move During Winter of 1943-44

By Major E.G. King
Commanding “A” Squadron, Elgin Regiment

During the Italian campaign, doing the east coast the first winter and then starting from below Cassino and finishing up in the foothills of the Northern Apennines. And, if I were asked to name one of the busiest men in the Squadron during our Italian interlude I think I would nominate Trooper Doug Keith, the postal clerk. The amount of mail that passed through his hands was large and usually about 90 per cent of it had to be re-addressed, which meant a lot of work for one man – but Doug did a good job of it.

Sicily with Monty

9/18/2016

Elgins Left Old Syracuse
In Big Hurry on the Night
of Their Sicilian Landing

Reminiscence in St. Thomas Times Journal January 26, 1946

by Major Wilfred D. King
Commanding “A” Squadron, Elgin Regiment

The Elgins – or some of the Elgins – first got into action in Sicily. There are incidents – highlights and lowlights – connected with that campaign that I am sure few of the boys will ever forget. Time has a tendency to make them amusing but there weren’t so funny when they occurred. We left the British Isles on June 25, 1943 and finally reached Algiers – and still we didn’t know where we were going. Then the invasion was on and we were taken down near the island of Pantellaria. Every morning, for three mornings, we’d wake up and see some island out in front of us.

We seemed to be going around in circles. The next thing we knew we were in Malta, and sat there for a day. Then on the night of July 15 we started for Syracuse and were going to land. We knew where we were going then.