John Cowan, a retired Captain of The Brockville Rifles, passed away peacefully on March 22, 2023, at Kingston General Hospital, at the age of 86. John was a member of The Brockville Rifles regiment for the latter part of his over ten-year career, retiring as a Captain. He was an expert marksman and navigator, winning many top honors in Canadian Armed Forces land navigation and marksmanship competitions, and receiving the Canadian Forces Decoration. John also pursued a successful career in education which spanned over 40 years. He held various positions, including Technical Department head, Program Coordinator, Vice Principal, and Principal. He was also a member of the Leeds and Grenville County board of Education. John was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather. He will be remembered by family and friends for his kind heart, his unwavering dedication and selflessness, and his service to his country and community.
On Thursday, April 14, our Honorary Colonel hosted a Brocks table at the Mayor of Ottawa’s breakfast meeting – which featured the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Wayne Eyre. Joining Colonel Bird were our Member of Parliament, Michael Barrett, Col (Ret’d) Craig McQuitty, Capt Andrew Melchers, LCol (Ret’d) Rick Garber and HCol Dan MacKay of the Cameron Highlanders, a friend of the Regiment. Mr. Barrett, himself a CAF veteran, congratulated The Brocks on such a fine showing at this year’s Sgt Rick Foldeak Memorial Hockey Tournament. In his introduction to the CDS, the Mayor of Ottawa, Mayor Jim Watson singled out The Brockville Rifles for our presence and service to Canada. Gen Eyre then delivered an insightful overview of increasingly complex operating environment facing the CAF, sharing his unique perspective of the myriad of challenges facing the CAF and it’s members. When asked about his priorities he emphasized that looking after our troops is his number one concern – raising such challenges as recruiting, retention and dealing with growing inflation. Honorary Colonel of the Canadian Army, Paul Hindo – another friend of the Brockville Rifles – sought out the Brocks contingent and thanked Col Bird and the Brocks for demonstrating our continuing to connect with civil society – a key role of the Reserves. By leveraging his role as a long-standing Ottawa insider, Col Bird continues to raise the profile of our Regiment with influencers and decision-makers.
In support of The Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 105, Cardinal. The Brockville Rifles are hosting a virtual event. You can choose between running, walking or rucking (loaded backpack).
Cost
Adult (18+) $35 each
Youth (13-17) $30 each
Children (0-12) $25 each
Families (up to 4 individuals) $100
* Fee includes registration, postal charge, and completion medal!
JOIGNEZ- VOUS À L’ ACTION
MARCHEZ, COUREZ, PARTICIPEZ
Du 1 mai au 30 juin 2020
Évènement virtuel
ADULTE (18+): $ 35 ch
ADOLESCENT (13 -17): $30 ch
ENFANT (0-12): $25 ch
FAMILLE DE 4+ :$100
Virtuellement hébergé par la “BROCKVILLE RIFLES REGIMENTAL SOCIETY”
Retired Warrant Officer, Brockville Rifles with over 35 years of service.
Passed away peacefully at the Brockville General Hospital, Garden Street Site on Thursday, January 30, 2020. Tracy Lee Beale, at the age of 58 years. Dearly loved partner of Dauna Staite. Will be missed by her parents, Bob and Phyllis Beale and by her siblings Cheryl Johnston (Hugh), Chris Beale (Tanya) and Tim Beale (Jaime). Will also be missed by her nieces and nephews, Ben Johnston, Alex Johnston (Rob), Vincent Beale (Maygan), T.J. Beale and Jessica Beale (Taylor).
Family and friends are invited to pay their respects at Irvine Funeral Home and Chapel, 4 James Street East, Brockville on Friday, February 7, 2020 from 2-4 pm and 6-8 pm. A ceremony celebrating Tracy’s life will be held on Saturday, February 8, 2020 at 2 pm at Wall Street United Church, 5 Wall Street, Brockville. As expressions of sympathy, donations to the Brockville and District Hospital Foundation Palliative Care will be gratefully acknowledged. Send condolences or make a donation online at www.irvinememorial.com.
A member of The Brockville Rifles. Commanding Officer of The Brockville Rifles 1975 to 1978
Peacefully entered into rest with family by his side on Saturday January 25, 2020. James C. F. Sheflin of Brockville aged 82 years. Beloved husband of Patricia Joan Sheflin (Smith-Warren). Loving father of Marguerite MacDonald (Bill) of Mallorytown, James Sheflin (Linda) of Alberta, Teresa Sheflin of Brockville, Joanne Wessel (Bernard), Charles Sheflin (April) both of Brockville and Sharon Lasychuk (Jay) of Lyn. Mr. Sheflin is also survived by 13 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren as well as a brother Michael Sheflin (Anne) and a niece Sydney Sheflin both of Ottawa. Predeceased by a sister in law Sandra Throop (late Richard) and a niece Morgan Sheflin. A Graveside Service will be held at Roselawn Memorial Gardens on July 25th.
In memory of James, donations to the Heart and Stroke Foundation or the Canadian Cancer Society would be gratefully appreciated by the family. Barclay Funeral Home 137 Pearl Street East, Brockville entrusted with the arrangements. Messages of condolence may be made online at www.barclayfuneralhome.com.
In the Spring of 2019 the Ottawa River experienced a 100 year flood for the second time in 2 years. The Brockville Rifles deployed 6 soldiers, 2 senior N.C.O.s and 1 junior officer for Operation Lentus. The members of The Brockville Rifles formed up with other regiments from 33 CBG to form the 33 Domestic Response Company (33 DRC). The Brocks were deployed on 2 week contracts from 27 Apr 2019 to 3 June 2019.
The Brocks were the first group to arrive at 33 HQ to go through the in-clearance process. Being the first, they quickly formed the first platoon of 33 DRC with a Platoon Commander, Platoon 2nd in-command and 1 Section. 1PL was augmented by other regiments until it reached full strength.
From The Brockville Rifles the follow members formed the first platoon of 33 DRC:
1Pl Lt Melchers, AF Sgt Moss, R 1 Sec Cpl Dologh, KFJ Cpl Jowett, B Cpl Bongers, I Pte(B) Clancey, GC Rfn Barkley, E Rfn Godkin, P
Following RSOM 1Pl quickly tasked to Cumberland to assist with relief efforts. The first day and a half was spent reinforcing the civilian purchased aqua dam which came to be known as the Water Slug.
This privately purchased dam was inflated with water and held back flood waters protecting 3 homes in Cumberland. The Slug was being pushed towards the homes by the pressure of the water. The mission was to reinforce it to prevent it from squeezing the homes. The final construction was a site to behold and a number of dignitaries and media outlets came to this spot to see the Water Slug in action.
For the first few days 33 DRC was on rations as their position was in the East end of Ottawa and too far from CFB Connaught for fresh food. However, the local citizens of Cumberland were constantly bringing food to the Community Centre. Fresh coffee was put on every morning by a local store and goodies were in constant supply. The generosity of the local citizens kept the Company’s morale high and ensure we were to accomplish all of our tasks.
Lemieux Island Water Treatment Plant
After the first two very hard days, the soldiers of 1Pl boarded their vehicles to return to the Cumberland Community Centre. While on the way back all 3 platoons of 33 DRC were diverted to the Lemieux Island Water Treatment Plant. The Immediate Response Unit determined that the Lemieux Island Water Treatment Plant was under threat and could get flooded with projected water levels.
33DRC was tasked with securing the water treatment plant. The company was now at full strength with 3 platoons. 1Pl and The Brockville Rifles were the first on the ground at the plant to rectify the situation. The parking lot was starting to flood with water levels approaching the plant. The Lemieux Island Water Treatment Plant is the main water source for the City of Ottawa. The plant supplies 50% of the water to Ottawa. If the plant were to be flooded the city would have to ration water as it would only have a 48 hour supply. The soldiers of 33DRC were able to erect a 5ft high sandbag wall within 2 hours of arrival. The soldiers worked quickly and efficiently in order to accomplish this task. It was noted that while on site the water level raised by 2 inches. Regular force engineers showed up in the evening and 33 DRC assisted with erecting a secondary gabion wall. 33DRC was on this position until approximately 2am.
Without the professionalism and efficiency of 33DRC the situation in Ottawa would be entirely different. Due to the actions of 33DRC 1Pl and 7 soldiers were awarded challenge coins from Col Adair, 2CBMG. Col Adair referenced our accomplishments at the plant in our speech, citing how 33DRC was able to respond quickly and get the task done. He also mentioned that this task was being praised for its excellent coordination of combined arms. This was followed up by a coin being issued by the 4 Div Commander.
The Fight Continues
The following two days were spent building a 300m sandbag wall in order to protect Cumberland in the vicinity of Morin Dr. Peak water levels were projected for Wednesday with a projected rise of 2′. There was also 2″ of snow and rain forecasted for Wednesday. A home owner had erected their own wall which was noted as deficient by 1Pl. The insufficient wall was on the verge of failure and barely holding back 4 feet of water. The engineers erected a correct wall with the Infantry supplying a constant line of sandbags. By Tuesday Cumberland IVO Morin Dr and East Shore road was secure. Wednesday was spent as the Immediate Reaction Unit’s Quick Reaction Force. We got our first task in the afternoon to reinforce walls around Galetta. We returned to Cumberland Arena by 2000 Wednesday. Thursday has been for reorg to redeploy back to Connaught. Morale has been high and performance exceptional. There is a lack of senior NCOs and many privates and Corporal have stepped up to fill the leadership positions. Everyone understands their roles and the importance of the task. After two weeks many of The Brockville Rifles contracts were expired and the next set of soldiers continued to provide assistance to townships in the Ottawa Valley.
During the Second World War The Brockville Rifles provided a defence force to Jamaica. This magazine was published recounting the Regiment’s time served on the island.
The Brocks 1945 Jamaica Newsletter
This is a large file and may take sometime to load.
Andrew Wilfred (Andy) Paul had known life only on the Millbrook. N.S., Mi’kmaq First Nations Reserve – up to the midpoint of the Second World War.
And in early 1943, 27-year-old Andy Paul was one of a group of men from the reserve, that straddles the old Trans-Canada Highway in scenic, wooded Colchester County in central Nova Scotia, who made their way to Halifax to join the Canadian Army. When he signed up he would be making $1.50 a day.
Copies of his wartime army documents from the Canadian Forces Records Centre in Ottawa were retrieved to verify his service to the Last Post Fund which erected his headstone on the Sacred Heart Cemetery of the Millbrook Reserve in 1987.
The 14 documents, a mixture of typewritten forms with various official stamps and fountain-pen and pencil entries, showed he enrolled in Halifax in early 1943 and received an honourable, medical discharge at No. 6 District Depot, Halifax, in late 1944 and returned to civilian life. He was five feet nine inches, of slender build, 135 pounds, upright, dark-complexioned, dark hair and dark brown eyes, according to his military documents, and medically fit for military service, according to some unknown MD. He reported Grade 8 education and that his language of preference was Mi’kmaq and English, likely in that order.
On enrollment, he stated he was married to Irene (Cope) Paul, of Millbrook, supported daughters Cecilia, Marie, Phyllis and Evelyn, and that his civilian occupation was carpenter apprentice.
His trade on enrollment was infantryman, in the rank of private, and he was taken on strength with the North Nova Scotia Highlanders for basic training. There are some typewritten entries about his progression and courses of instruction and a notation that he was an average, quiet soldier.
“Being from a reservation and barely able to speak English . . . it was a sudden integration. It was a shock. I was stunned for two or three months while taking basic training.” — Peter Whitecloud, Second World War veteran. (From Native Soldiers / Foreign Battlefields. Government of Canada / Veterans Affairs Canada. 1993)
Pte. Paul continued his army service in Aldershot, N.S., and later sent by troop train to Kingston, Ont., where he was taken on strength by The Brockville Rifles, until he was returned to his original regiment not long before they, and The Brockville Rifles, were scheduled to go overseas to form part of the invasion force named Operation Overlord.
The documents are unclear why Pte. Paul did not go overseas but he was honourably discharged in late 1944 in Halifax and returned to civilian life about 60 miles away. Andy, as he was commonly known, reintegrated into life on the Millbrook reserve and worked for many years as a carpenter, bricklayer, taxi driver and Band Councillor.
His file showed he neither applied for, nor received, any financial assistance from Veterans Affairs Canada at any time and he and his wife, Irene, who predeceased him in 1965, continued to raise their four daughters in their small home on Willow Street.
Andrew was known to participate each year in Remembrance Day services on the Millbrook Reserve and in downtown Truro and was proud to wear his three medals just below his poppy. And when he died of heart failure at the QE II Health Sciences Centre in 1986, a colour party from Royal Canadian Legion Branch 26, Truro, was present at his funeral as a tribute to his life and service to Canada as a proud aboriginal veteran, a man who chose out of necessity to speak his native tongue in a primarily English-speaking milieu that was the wartime Canadian army.
His second-eldest daughter, Marie, was married to Mr. Peter Magwood in 1987. Marie told some anecdotes about her late father, including his employment as a taxi driver on the Millbrook Reserve and his habit of driving a “big mobile” very slowly along Willow Street with a long, impatient procession of other vehicles following behind on two-lane Highway 2. He would sometimes come to a complete stop before making a left or right turn, she said, adding, with a smile, that her father sometimes commented that motorists were testing their automobile horns behind him for some unknown reason and even waving at him.
Driving habits notwithstanding, he was an accomplished bricklayer and erected and repaired many chimneys in houses on the Millbrook Reserve, wood being a primary heat source, for only dollars a day.
I met him only once, and found him a reserved, wiry man, with a pervasive look in his dark eyes that had seen native life in rural Nova Scotia during the First World War, on and up to his death in 1986.
“We used to eat grass, you know,” he told me.
We shook hands and I was proud and privileged to have met him. I told him I had served in the navy and the naval reserve (I did not give my rank, PO2). And his reply was a shrug and a thin smile with a typical pursing of the lips followed by a look into the distance I had often seen in my wife when she wanted to point something out or was thinking.
When Marie passed away from cancer on Sunday, Feb. 19, 2012, Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church made sure her ashes would be interred close to her beloved father’s remains, in a sunny area of the church cemetery that fronts onto a scenic, deep woods in the southern reaches of the reserve, which has about 800 inhabitants.
In the early 1990s the Millbrook Band commissioned and had erected a fine war memorial in the central part of the reserve on Willow Street. It is engraved with dozens of names of band members who served in the Army, Navy and Air Force in the two world wars, the Korean conflict and armed missions in following years. Pte. Andrew W. Paul’s name has pride of place among the Second World War men.
Andy’s second-youngest daughter, Phyllis, is buried beside Marie. And when I go and pay my respects each year to Marie, I make it a point to pause and say a few words of thankful remembrance to Marie, Andy, Phyllis and the other war veterans — with their identical markers – silent, grey sentinels in the small, tidy cemetery with its white arch and open, clean air with the quiet, sacred woods just beyond.
The booklet Native Soldiers / Foreign Battlefields says more than 7,000 Indians served in the First and Second world wars and Korean conflict.
“On each occasion, Canada’s Native soldiers overcame cultural challenges and made impressive sacrifices and contributions to help the nation in its efforts to restore world peace.
It was an incredible response – consistent with a remarkable tradition.”
Syllabus of Training issued. Training by Companies and details at intervals. Weather: Showery.
Image: Civilians driving to their homes through flooded streets of Valenciennes on a Canadian car. November, 1918, Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada.