Help with Father-in-law's WWII Service Record

[alroch4]

Hopefully this is the final piece...looks like he is in BROCVILLE from 12-Sep-1945 to 2-Oct-1945 back to A21 CO + EMCTC. I don't get the location that is written...is he back in BARRIEFIELD?

The is he discharged on Dec. 9 1945 to return to civilian life.

Blake Armstrong 8 and 9.jpg (333.32 KiB) Viewed 30109 times

[alroch4]

He was also a Reservist with the Cameron Highlanders in Ottawa from April 1942 to 6 November 1944. He was under 18-years old then. What kind of duties would he have done?

[Temujin]

Hopefully this is the final piece...looks like he is in BROCVILLE from 12-Sep-1945 to 2-Oct-1945 back to A21 CO + EMCTC. I don't get the location that is written...is he back in BARRIEFIELD?

The is he discharged on Dec. 9 1945 to return to civilian life.

Blake Armstrong 8 and 9.jpg

On 2nd Oct he was back to 2nd Echelon……and it also mentions SOS to 3 DD (3 District Depot)……but the records here are a little bit “hazy”, I’m not exactly sure what this is telling us. And ALTHOUGH he “may” have been back in BARRIEFIELD, he “may” still be in BROCKVILLE, where his unit was

BUT, a hint, when you recieved his Military Records were their MORE PAGES showing where he was when. Why I ask this is when then put all his records in the FILE years ago (after the war)…..they amalgamated ALL the records so he could have up to 3 different copies of his records in his files.
Why you ask, well the UNIT’s kept a copy of his records…….and the info was also kept higher up, usually in England at CMHQ (Canadian Military Headquarter) 2nd Echelon. These records were ALMOST identical to the Unit records but sometimes they were typed, and they were much clearer, BUT sometimes they add some confusion, for Example his Unit record may say he joined the unit on 27 Mar 44 and CMHQ record says the 25 Mar 44. This could be from a myriad of reasons. The dates on the records were suppose to match up to the “published orders”…..but sometimes were not.

Anyway, if you could check to see if their is MORE RECORDS, this may help us sort out the small details like you posted above.

[Temujin]

He was also a Reservist with the Cameron Highlanders in Ottawa from April 1942 to 6 November 1944. He was under 18-years old then. What kind of duties would he have done?

Can you post that record? And was it the Cameron Highlanders OF Ottawa, not IN Ottawa. Why I ask is that their is TWO Cameron Highlander Regiments……..THE CAMERON HIGHLANDERS OF OTTAWA and THE CAMERON HIGHLANDERS OF CANADA………so that is why I’m asking.

And he would have been “in training”. These “2nd Battalions” as they were sometimes called were TRAINING BATTALIONS, training men to go to England as reinforcements. AND as he was “underage” for deployment to the Canadian Army (Active) in Europe….he would have been held in that Battalion until he became “of age”………and also you had to Volunteer to “join” the CA(A)…….except (always and exception) near the end of the war, do to manpower needs in Europe……men who only joined for service in CANADA, were being deployed to Europe “without” them volunteering. This was a big political debate in Canada.

Again, his records may tell us if he volunteered or what was going on with him.

Side Note: THE CAMERON HIGHLANDERS OF OTTAWA, in England/Europe was a Divisional Support Battalion with “heavy weapons”. They had 3 Companies of Heavy Machine guns and 1 Company of Heavy Mortars. These were assigned to assist Rifle Battalions when needed or in defence.

Here is more information on THE CAMERON HIGLANDERS OF OTTAWA

http://camerons.ca/history/

On June 6, 1944, the 1st Battalion landed on the beaches of Normandy as part of the Canadian D-Day assault force, the only Ottawa unit to do so. The Camerons operated as a divisional resource and spent much of the next year spread out at company and platoon level providing machine gun and mortar support for the nine infantry battalions of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. As a result, the 1st Battalion fought in most of the II Canadian Corps’ battles in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany until the ceasefire in May 1945. Following the war the regiment received numerous battle honours for the 1st Battalion’s efforts: “Normandy Landing”, “Caen”, “Carpiquet”, “The Orne”, “Bourguébus Ridge”, “Faubourg de Vaucelles”, “Falaise”, “Quesnay Wood”, “The Laison”, “Boulogne, 1944”, “The Scheldt”, “Breskens Pocket”, “The Rhineland”, “Waal Flats”, “The Hochwald”, “The Rhine”, “Zutphen”, “Deventer”, “Leer”, and “North-West Europe, 1944-1945”.

In total, the 1st Battalion suffered more than 160 men killed either with the battalion or with later units they had transferred to. Ninety-nine of these Camerons died on the field of battle, either killed in action or died from their wounds. A total of fifty-six military honours and decorations were awarded to individual Camerons during the war, including eight Orders of the British Empire (three OBEs and five MBEs), seven Military Crosses, eleven Military Medals, one British Empire Medal, fourteen Mentioned-in-Despatches, one American Distinguished Service Cross, three French Croix de Guerre, one Belgian Chevalier of the Order of Leopold, two Belgian Croix de Guerre, two Dutch Bronze Lions, and five Dutch Bronze Crosses. After several months awaiting repatriation, the 1st Battalion arrived home to Ottawa in December 1945 and the unit was demobilized.

While the 1st Battalion of the regiment trained and fought overseas, the 2nd (Reserve) Battalion operated in Ottawa throughout the war, recruiting and training young men for active service. Between 1940 and 1945 the battalion enlisted more than 1,800 soldiers, more than half of these eventually being transferred to the Canadian Active Service Force overseas with various front-line battalions.

[alroch4]

Thanks. I forgot about the rest of his file. Here's the entry on the Cameron Highlanders...he lived in Ottawa at the time.

Cameron Highladers (R).jpg (62.82 KiB) Viewed 30101 times

[alroch4]

I also have been reading his discharge date wrong...it is October 9, 1945 and he is in Kingston, Ontario.

Blake Discharged.jpg (432.56 KiB) Viewed 30101 times

Got it. Kingston is BARRIEFIELD…… Barriefield Military Camp was just across the river from downtown Kingston, just up the hill from RMC. The Camps named was changed to CFB Kingston in 1966, and their were two “barracks”……McNaughton Barracks (Named after the Second World War general) and Vimy Barracks (after the First World War battle).

I served at CFB Kingston, lived in Vimy Barracks, and worked in McNaughton Barracks.

[alroch4]

....and this is the other section in the file showing his movements...

Blake Movements.jpg (578.27 KiB) Viewed 30101 times