Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 107 continued ... Soldiers, who were Group C qualified driver/mechanics (track), were drawn from various Royal Canadian Artillery (RCA) and Canadian Armoured Corps (CAC) units to operate the Kangaroos. Contributing units included the 8th Princess Louise's (New Brunswick) Hussars, the New Brunswick Rangers, the Halifax Rifles, the Governor General’s Foot Guards, the Canadian Grenadier Guards, the Elgin Regiment, the Royal Canadian Dragoons, the Grey and Simcoe Foresters, the Calgary Regiment (Tank), the Fort Garry Horse, the Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment, No. 3 Canadian Armoured Corps Reinforcement Unit, and RCA anti-tank regiments. The unit would eventually have its own dedicated light aid detachment (second line mechanical maintenance) and signals troop. Their unit identifying number was ‘157’. The soldiers and officers of the Kangaroo Regiment came from every military district in Canada and included soldiers of African, Indigenous and Metis heritage. Records note that at least one soldier from the Dominion of Newfoundland served in the Kangaroos. During Operation Totalize (8-10 August) the number of dead and wounded infantrymen was significantly lower having been carried into battle by the Kangaroos. Their continued successful employment in Operation Tractable (14-16 August), convinced First Canadian Army that there was an urgent requirement for more APCs. On 10 August a project commenced in England to convert 100 of the Canadian made Ram tanks into APCs. Those 100 ‘Ram Kangaroos’ arrived in France two weeks later. On 26 August the Canadian Army created the ad hoc “Kangaroo Squadron” as a Canadian Corps asset. Two days later, 28 August, it was named 1st Canadian Armoured Personnel Carrier Squadron (1CAPC Sqn). On 24 October, in the Netherlands, it was expanded and reorganized as a regiment and became the 1st Canadian Armoured Personnel Carrier Regiment (1CAPCR). The Kangaroo’s Commanding Officer, Lt.-Col. Gordon Churchill was reluctant to use a symbol so closely associated with Australia for a Canadian Army regiment’s cap badge. However, by the time the regiment was formed the nickname “Kangaroos”, for the men and their vehicles, had stuck. No other design would have been as logical or as popular. Towards the end of December, Lt-Col Churchill won the battle to have the word 'personnel' dropped from the regiment’s name. On 1 January 1945 the regiment was renamed 1st Canadian Armoured Carrier Regiment (1CACR) and the commanding officer appeared wearing the regiment's new cap badge. It was a representation of a kangaroo standing upright, with the Latin motto "Armatos Fundit" - which translates as “it pours forth armed men”. The cap badges were issued to the troops on 5 February along with cloth regimental titles. LieutenantColonel Churchill had fought hard to obtain these accoutrements to help foster regimental esprit de corps. The ‘kangaroos’ knew they were a specialized regiment and took The Nova Scotia troopers of the Kangaroo Regiment continued ... Lt. Col. Gordon Minto Churchill, DSO
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM0NTk1OA==