In October 1941, the General Duty Company of the Veterans Guard of Canada arrived in Great Britain, becoming the first men of Veterans Guards to serve on foreign soil. The General Duty Company, later known as the No. 1 General Duty Company, was established in mid-1941 with the intention of sending representatives of the Veterans Guard of Canada overseas to serve as guards and pickets and to help with air raid duties. Each active company serving across Canada was to select five candidates and, from these, a total of seventy-eight were to be selected. Major Harold Douglas Hedley, MC, VD, a decorated veteran from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan was appointed the Commanding Officer.
In August 1941, the seventy-eight candidates arrived in Ottawa and, over the coming weeks, engaged in training for preparation for service overseas. By early October, the final sixty-five other ranks were selected and, to assist Major Hedley, Lieutenant Douglas Baldwin was appointed second-in command. The company left Halifax aboard the Aorangi on October 9 and arrived in England the following week.
Over the coming months, the company busied itself with various tasks but their numbers slowly declined due to hospitalizations or transfers back to Canada. Additional reinforcements were sent from other Veterans Guard companies while others were transferred from regiments serving in England. A handful of the original men from No. 1 General Duty Company would remain on active service in England through 1945, finally returning to Canada after the war’s end.
This photograph (larger resolution available below) of the General Duty Company was taken on September 6, 1941 in front of the Grandstand at Ottawa’s Lansdowne Park. When I acquired this group photograph some years ago, only the original owner, Thomas Russell Philip, was identified. With the help of photograph in the Canadian War Museum’s collection that showed the company while stationed in England in 1942, I was able to identify many others. Further researched revealed an army photographer took a series of group pictures before the company proceeded overseas and, fortunately for me, some of these pictures were published in newspapers across the country. From these sources, I have been able to tentatively identify most of the men in the group photograph but it remains a work in progress.
If you recognize someone, please get in touch.
Updated November 2022
- Front Row:
- Unidentified
- Unidentified
- Pte. R. Ainsworth (Toronto, ON)
- Cpl. Charles Julien, MM (Montreal, QC)
- Cpl. Percy (or T.) Worthington (Brandon, MB)
- Cpl. Peter Archibald MacFarlane (Niagara Falls, ON)
- Sgt. D McCallum (Vancouver, BC)
- Sgt. Lee Hamilton Machum (NB)
- Sgt. Thomas Bernard (Montreal, QC)
- Sgt. Joseph Peter Parker (Ottawa, ON)
- Sgt. W.W. Brown (Hamilton, ON)
- RSM William Turner Nutter (Montreal, QC)
- Major Harold Douglas Hedley, MC, VD (Moose Jaw, SK)
- CSM Arnold Chester Manley, MM+Bar (Beamvsille, ON)
- Sgt. Cecil John Rule, MM (Toronto, ON)
- Sgt. Arthur Aucott (Windsor, ON)
- Unidentified
- Cpl. J Pouliot (Montreal, QC)
- Cpl. William Magnall (Vancouver, BC)
- Cpl. Alfred William Mitchell, DCM+Bar (BC)
- Cpl. William John Jones (Vancouver, BC)
- Pte. Walter Albert Phillips (Vancouver, BC)
- Pte. W Hale (Verdun, QC)
- Pte. Robert Horne Parnell (Vancouver, BC)
- Second Row:
- Pte. Francis James Stuart Noad (QC)
- Pte. Albert Dix (Waterloo, QC)
- Unidentified
- Unidentified
- Unidentified
- Pte. R. Lauzon (Montreal, QC)
- Pte. George Charles Masters (Toronto, ON)
- Pte. C.J. Leggatt (Nelson, BC)
- L/Cpl. H.F. Palmer (NS)
- Pte. Ernest Stanley Davis, MM (Oak Bay, NB)
- Pte. James William Folland (Bradalbane, PEI)
- Pte. Albert Edward Gilkes (Winnipeg, MB)
- Pte. Albert William Euloth (Dartmouth, NS)
- Pte. R.H. Crabbe (Edgewood, BC)
- Pte. R. MacKay (Verdun, QC)
- Pte. Donald John McAskill (New Denver, BC)
- Pte. Albert Joseph Lafortune (Cornwall, ON)
- Pte. William James Delderfield (Athens, ON)
- Pte. James Edgar Read (Oshawa, ON)
- Pte. Francis Gray Garrett (Sault Ste. Marie, ON)
- Pte. Cyrus E. Gallant (Wellington, PEI)
- Pte. J.B. Caron (Ottawa, ON)
- Unidentified
- Pte. Frederick Murray Lawson, MM (Welland, ON)
- Pte. A.E. West (Windsor, ON)
- Third Row:
- Pte. A McKeller (Moose Jaw, SK)
- Pte. Kenneth Archie Ritchie, DCM (Ottawa, ON/Rosslyn, BC)
- Pte. Norman Aiken (Meadow Lake, SK)
- Pte. Charles Henry Webb (Weston, ON)
- Pte. Thomas Peter Noonan (Vancouver, BC)
- Pte. Thomas Russel Philip, MM (Hargrave, MB)
- Pte. H. White (Winnipeg, MB)
- Pte. Harry Hazen McAnn (QC)
- Pte. George F. Sherlow (Swan River, MB)
- Pte. Albert Edward Lawrence (Galt, ON)
- Pte. A. Moussette (Montreal, QC)
- L/Cpl. John Thomas Tate (Dilke, SK)
- Pte. G.J. Carlisle (Wilmer, BC)
- Pte. Harold Gilbert (Virden, MB)
- Cpl. J.A. Stewart (Atlanta, Georgia, USA)
- Pte. Leopold Eugene Romeo (Vancouver, BC)
- Unidentified
- Pte. Robert McNeill, MM (Toronto, ON)
- Pte. Thomas George Dowling (Toronto, ON)
- Pte. James Edward Waites (Cornwall, ON)
- Pte. Frank Singard (Pakenham)
- Cpl. R. Charles Banyard (Neepawa, MB)
- Unidentified
- Pte. John “Jack” Henry Phillips (Vancouver, BC)
- Pte. J. Murrell (Rockglen, SK)
- Pte. J.A. Norton (Hillcrest, AB)
- Pte. Findlay David Collin Blackwell, DSM (Harding, MB)
- Pte. Joseph Wilfred Pidgeon (Windsor, ON)
Most of the following men are likely in the above photograph but I have yet to identify them.
- Unidentified:
- Sgt. Lytle Frederick Earl Carter Carter (Cochrane, ON)
- Cpl./Sgt. Henry Clark Fitzpatrick (Swift Current, SK)
- Sgt. B.B. Martin (Toronto, ON)
- Sgt. Tom Ridgway (Collingwood, ON)
- L/Cpl. F. Radford (Toronto, ON)
- Pte. N. Buchan (Meaford, ON)
- Pte. Buckley “Buck” Duane (Edmonton, AB)
- Pte. George Harrison Greeley (Hearst, ON)
- Pte. Albert Henry Harrington (Winnipeg, MB)
- Pte. J.V. Knox (Montreal, QC)
- Pte. [Emil] Percival John Lacey (Quill Lake, SK)
- Pte. James William Walters (Winnipeg, MB)
- Pte. Michael Terrance Farrell (Truro, NS) – believed in to be hospital when photograph was taken
To learn more about the origins and duties of No. 1 General Duty Company, click here.
POWs in Canada 
Additional details – # 10 General Dusty Co.
AINSWORTH, R., Pte. B36279
JULIEN, Charles, Cpl., Died Montreal 14 AUG 88
WORTHINGTON, Percy (T), Cpl., H54712, Died Brandon
MacFARLANE, Peter Archibald, Cpl., B35612, Died Halifax, 3 MAY 60
McCALLUM, Peter Archibald, Sgt.
PARKER, Joseph Peter, Sgt., C89363, Died Ottawa 1952
BROWN, W.W., Sgt. B35500
NUTTRER, Wilkin Turner, R.S.M., D107078, Died Montreal, 9 FEB 80
RULE, Cecil Julian, Sgt. Died Toronto, 1977
AUCOTT, Arthur Sgt., A34302, Died Windsdor, 1966
MAGNALL, James William, Cpl. K92553, Died 3 NOV 76
JONES, William John, Cpl., M42741, Died Vancouver, 20 JULY 62
PHILLIPS, Walter Albert, Pte., K93131, Died 16 OCT 76, Esquimalt
HALE, W., Pte., D110770, Died 27 DEC 80, Montreal.
PARNELL, Robert Horne, Pte., H40290, Died 14 FEB 73, Vancouver
NOAD, Francis James Stuart, Died MAY 81
DIX, Albert, Died 20 NOV 60, Waterloo
LAUZON, R., D107021
MASTERS, George Charles, B14881
LEGGATT, C.J., Pte., K93391
DAVIS, Ernest Stanley, L/Cpl., G46100, Died 16 DEC 70,
FOLLAND, James William, L/Cpl, , F1334, Died 3 APR 43
GILKES, Albert Edward, L/Cpl., H54382, Died 6 APR 84, Winnipeg
EULOSTH, Albert William, L/Cpl., F46, Died 1 FEB 45
CRABBE, R.H., Pte., K93687
MACKAY,R., Pte., D107060
LAFORTUNE, Albert Joseph, Pte., C89556
DELDERFIELD, William James, Pte., C8907, Died JAN 71
READ, James Edgar, Pte., Died 1959, Oshawa
GARRETT, Francis Gray, Pte., Died 1981
CARON, J.B., Pte., C89402
LAWSON, Frederick Murray, Pte., B35681
WEST, A.E., Pte., A54718
RITHLIE, Kenneth Archie, Pte., B147927, Died1967, Blind River
AIKEN, Norman, Pte., L33022, Died 13 JAN 44, Saskatoon
WEBB, Charles Henry, Pte., B36273, Died OCT 82
NOONAN, Thomas Peter, Pte., K93075, Died 1968, Victoria
PHILLIP, Thomas Russel, Pte.L51140, Died SEPT 75, Brandon
SHERLOW, George F., Pte., H42067, Died 6 JUNE 70, Surrey
LAWRENCE, Albert Edward, Pte., A34112, Died 27 SEPT 64, London
MOUSETTE, A., Pte., D112525
TATE, John Thomas, L/Cpl., L32032, Died 1954, Regina
ROMEO, Leopold Eugene, Cpl., K93109, Died 1966, Alberta
McNEIL, Robert, Cpl., B35259
DOWLING, Thomas George, Cpl., B35119, Died 18 SEPT 80, Toronto
WAITES, James Edward, Cpl., C89571
SINGARD, Frank, Cpl., C89928, Died 6 FEB 84, Almonte
PHILLIPS, Jake “Jack” Henry, Pte., K92847
MURRELL, J., Pte, L32252
NORTON, J.A., Pte., M42391
BLACKWELL, Findlay David, M98020
PIDGEON, Joseph Wilfred, Pte., A34332
FITZPATRICK, Henry Charles, Cpl/Sgt., Died 1966, Swift Current
RIDGEWAY, Tom, Sgt., Died 1958, Collingwood
RADFORD, F., L/Cpl., B35161
BKUCHAN, N., Pte., B16261
GREELEY, George Harrison, Pte., Died 1953
HARRINGTON, Albert Henry, Pte., H40181
KNOX, J.V., Pte., D107322
WALTERS, James William, Pte., Died 22 MAR 68, Winnipeg
FARRELL, Michael Terrance, Died 29 FEB 59, Truro
Always searching for additional VGC Names and Details !
J