Initially known as No. 11B Company of the Veterans Guard of Canada, No. 26 Company was raised primarily from volunteers in British Columbia’s Vancouver Island. The company was initially organized under the command of Captain (later Major) R.B. Longridge but he soon after replaced by his Second in Command, Major (then Captain) John Bayley Hardinge. Captain C.E. Ball assumed the role as Second in Command and Lt. E.A. Hudson served as Adjutant as of December 1940.
By July 1940, the company was headquartered in Victoria and numbered eight officers and 250 men. For the first year, much of the company was assigned to coastal defence, guarding “Vulnerable Points” across the southern coast of British Columbia.
The company moved to Nanaimo in August 1941 for a month of training and, while there, a military photographer took a series of photos of the company and its platoons. Company Sergeant Major Colin Faithful kept copies of these photos in an album and they can be found below. None of the individuals were named so if you are able to identify anyone, please get in touch.
Once their month’s training was complete, the company resumed coastal defence duties, guarding the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Bases at Coal Harbour and Bella Bella and the Oil Plant at Ioco. Over the following years, the company alternated between coastal defence, training, and guarding German POWs in Western Canada, including Camp 130 (Seebe/Kananaskis), Camp 132 (Medicine Hat), Camp 133 (Ozada), and Camp 133 (Lethbridge).
As with most companies, transfers and discharges resulted in a turnover of men, especially the officers. As of June 1942, the company’s officers included:
- Major Arthur James Collison – Commanding Officer
- Captain John Henry Walter Cobb, MC – Second in Command
- Lt. Kingsley Jarvis – Administrative Officer
- Lt. G.G. Briscoe – Platoon Officer
- Lt. James Miller Cameron, MM – Platoon Officer
- Lt. Alfred James Edward Gibson, MC – Platoon Officer
- Lt. T.E. Parker – Platoon Officer
- Lt. William Russell Taylor, MM – Platoon Officer
- Lt. J.G. Cooke, DSO, MC
And by June 1944, the officers included:
- Major A.J. Collison – Commanding Officer
- Captain James Ezra Cole – Second in Command
- Lt. G. Buck – Administrative Officer
- Lt. C.H. Taylor – Platoon Officer
- Lt. W.R. Taylor, MM – Platoon Officer
- Lt. R.D. Taylor, MC – Platoon Officer
- Lt. G. Kerby, DCM – Platoon Officer
- Lt. J.M. Pollok – Platoon Officer
- 2nd Lt. Arthur Edward Vecqueray
- Lt. R.G. Bagnall – Training Officer
POWs in Canada 