The 48th Highlanders of Canada
1st Battalion, Europe 1939 - 1945

A historical perspective by Art Johnson 		 
1939 - THE BEGINNING  
Few members of the 48th were in the armoury the night the Mobilization Order was received, because of the Labour Day weekend.  










Those that were franticly began to track down the others to tell them to parade at the armoury the next day.

 
  BY SUNDAY THE 3RD OF SEPTEMBER, a temporary medical board had been organized at Grace Hospital; on Monday the Recruiting Office was opened. Tuesday saw the last parade of the NMPA unit; they marched around downtown Toronto, the officers in Blue Patrol and the men in White Shell. Upon returning to the armoury, the Commanding Officer called for volunteers from the unit then dismissed the parade.  
  Twenty minutes later he called the volunteers on parade and announced the formation of the 1st Battalion 48th Highlanders of Canada, Canadian Active Service Force.The pace thereafter was hectic. There were so many recruits coming in from 'civvy street' that the outer fence gate of the armoury had to be closed off to control the flow. The RSM, Frank Jamieson, and CSMs Bill May and Tiny Shaw, all WW I veterans, prowled the line weeding out those they thought were undesirable or not up to the recruiting standard. One of the men outside the gate was recognized by the RSM as the son of a former RSM of the Regiment and was allowed to climb over the fence and go to the recruiting office.

  
 

So along came September 1939, and war broke out. I enlisted that first day, then sent of to Christie St. Hospital for a medical. I had a small ingrown toe-nail, but with plenty of recruits to choose from, that was serious and I was declared temporarily medically unfit---and discharged.

I went into Toronto General at my own expense, and had an operation, complete with the gas treatment, and was kept for two days to recuperate. It was another two days before I was comfortable with a shoe on, and down to the Armories again. No dice!! The Regiment was full, and the guards on every door turned me away. I roamed around until I saw a "Guard Mount" in progress, and the RSM watching. I got his attention and said "I am Bill DeHarte", and with that he practically lifted me over the fence. "Where have you been? We've been searching for you."
(From 80 Years Under The Kilt by Bill DeHarte)

  
  For the first few weeks the men came to the armoury every day, did their training, and then went back home to sleep. The armoury was like a mad house with the 48th and the Service Corps drilling on the parade square at the same time. Major Haldenby, the Acting CO, was not pleased with this set up and made arrangements with the University of Toronto to use their back campus for training purposes.  
  The Battalion reached full strength on September 15th, 1939 and moved to the Horse Palace at the Canadian National Exhibition grounds on October 7th. They paraded from University Avenue Armoury to the CNE wearing the pre-war uniform of glengarry, cutaway serge jacket, kilt, hose top and spats.  
  Training became more serious as barracks life took hold. Companies went to the Long Branch firing rages for rifle and Lewis gun training. The RCR, a Permanent Force regiment which had a company stationed at Stanley Barracks, provided instruction on the new Bren gun; they only had one. The Horse Palace will always be remembered for the dust - it was everywhere, and men developed a hacking cough from it. When RSM Jamieson exhorted the civilian staff to do something about it, they hosed the floors down, but the dust came back as soon as they dried.  
  The new '37 pattern battledress was issued on December 3rd without web anklets, as they were not available. The 48th found some unused long blue putties in their stores and immediately had the Regimental Tailor convert them into short putties for the troops. December 13th a 'farewell dance' was held at Maple Leaf Gardens and the Battalion subsequently entrained for Halifax on December 17th. On reaching Halifax the train pulled right along the dockside and the troops embarked immediately on the Reina Del Pacifico. The Regiment was on its way to war!  
     
  Dileas Gu Brath  
       
 
 
 
Presented jointly by Art Johnson and MAPLE LEAF UP - Copyright © 2003, All Rights Reserved