Officers of No. 2 Construction Battalion The officers of No. 2 Construction Battalion are pictured in France. The commanding officer, Lieut.-Col. Daniel Sutherland, is seated on the left of the front row, while the unit chaplain, Honorary Capt. William Andrew White, is front row centre. (Courtesy Lt-Col DH Sutherland Collection, River John, Nova Scotia) Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 61 Recruiting No. 2 Construction Battalion was authorized on 5 July 1916 under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Daniel Sutherland, a well-known railroad contractor from River John, Nova Scotia. Its headquarters were initially based in Pictou, Nova Scotia, but moved to Truro in September. A detachment operated in Windsor, Ontario, from September 1916 to March 1917 for soldiers recruited in Ontario and western Canada. Recruiting began in the Maritimes on 19 July and in Quebec and points west on 30 August. The battalion was one of only a few units that was allowed to recruit across the country. By the end of December 1916, it had 575 soldiers. As with other battalions, many of these were released as medically unfit before the battalion sailed. The numbers enlisted were good, but not enough for a battalion. On 22 December 1916, the battalion was told it should prepare for service overseas. Its services were urgently needed. A large recruiting push began, to get the battalion up to strength. It was interrupted when 250 men from Truro were sent to New Brunswick in late January 1917 to remove railway tracks immediately required for military railways in Belgium and France. Overseas Service On 28 March 1917, No. 2 Construction Battalion sailed from Halifax on the SS Southland. They arrived in Liverpool on 7 April. The battalion sailed with 19 officers and 595 men, far short of the 1,049 officers and men required for a battalion. Of the officers, only one, Reverend WilliamAndrew White, was Black; there were seven non-Black soldiers among the troops. Among these were the two highest NCO positions in the unit: the regimental sergeant major and the regimental quartermaster sergeant. continued ... continued ...
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