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Extra-Regimentally
Employed
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Major
Jeffrey Williams |
Jeffrey
Williams joined the Calgary Highlanders as a private in 1937; shortly
after the outbreak of war he was commissioned as a Lieutenant and went
overseas with the unit in 1940. He held several appointments, including
platoon commander and Intelligence Officer, and was selected in June
1943 for training as a staff officer. He was made Liaison Officer with
5th Canadian Infantry Brigade, then trained at the headquarters of First
Canadian Army. In March 1944 he returned to Canada to attend the 9th
Canadian War Staff Course at Kingston, Ontario. He went to Normandy in
the late summer of 1944 as one of two staff captains in the Army
Equipment Section of the Quartermaster General's Branch. Two days
before the end of the war, he was promoted to Major and a spot on the
Liaison Staff. He served briefly as Brigade Major of 5th Canadian
Infantry Brigade before the disbandment of the 2nd Division.
Major
Williams remained in the Army, commanded a company of PPCLI in Korea,
and retired from the service in 1971. He authored many books on
military subjects, receiving the Governor General's Literary Award for
Non Fiction and the University of British Columbia's Canadian Biography
Award. He published an autobiography of his service in 2003 entitled
Far From Home. |
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Major Huband
Thornton Raymond Gregg |
HTR "Funny"
Gregg enlisted in the 15th Alberta Light Horse as a Lieutenant in 1937
while attending the University of Alberta. He received his Bachelor of
Arts and his Law Degree in 1940. He joined the Calgary Highlanders the
same year and went overseas as a reinforcement officer.
Like
Williams, he acted as Intelligence Officer, then Liaison Officer to 5
Brigade, and in 1943 returned to Canada to attend the Staff Course. He
returned overseas and served on staff in several units, returning to
Canada as a Major.
After the
war, he served as 2 i/c of the Calgary Highlanders, taking command in
1950 and serving in that capacity until 1953. He went on to serve as
Colonel and later Brigadier General, retiring in 1963 and passing away
in August 1990. |
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Captain
Theodore Marie ("Ted") Insinger |
Captain Ted
Insinger was also a prewar Calgary Highlander, being commissioned as a
Second Lieutenant in May 1939. He had previously served as a captain in
the Dutch Army and had been a sabre-fencing champion, while his father
had been Commander-In-Chief of the Dutch Army. Despite his age (he had
served in the First World War with the Dutch Army) he joined the
mobilized First Battalion and served as Transport Officer while the unit
was in Shilo. Because of his fluency in German, he moved to Second
Division headquarters as Intelligence Officer.
Captain
Insinger was aboard the HMS Calpe on 19 August 1942 when it was
acting as command ship for Operation JUBILEE, the raid on Dieppe. He
was killed when a shell struck the ship; he was 47 years of age and left
behind a widowed wife with the elegant name Caroline Wolfine Jeannette
Adolphine Cornelie Baroness Van Hemert Tot Dingshof Insinger. |
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Major Harry
Critchley |
Son of a
very famous Tenth Battalion veteran, Harry Critchley served as a Calgary
Highlander and eventually on staff with the headquarters of First
Canadian Army. For his work on staff duties with Canadian Reinforcement
Units and First Canadian Army HQ, he was made a Member of the Order of
the British Empire. |
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Captain
Bob
Porter |
Captain
Porter is mentioned in the War Diary as being a Liaison Officer with the
5th Canadian Brigade, having been with Brigade Headquarters for
"approximately five months" at the time mention was made in the war
diary in mid-August 1944. |
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