November 11th is a time to remember the fallen and to thank veterans that have served in combat.
In London, there’s a cavalry troop known as the First Hussars Regiment.
They have been in the City since 1856 and they were present in both The Great War (WWI) and World War II (WWII).
Just off of Dundas Street, beside the Thames River is the First Hussars Museum.
The curator of the museum Alastair Neely provides a brief description of the First Hussars and how they contributed in both wars.
While we walked around the museum Neely pointed out some model tanks that the First Hussars used in WWII.
Neely says some of the tanks that were used in the horrific tragedy had unique stories.
The First Hussars used horses in WWI and Lt. Col. and Commanding Officer of the regiment Allan Finney says during the conflict Canada sent more horses than men.
“Canada sent 600 000 troops to fight in the war and over a million horses.”
Lt. Col. Finney clarified that horses had a major role in WWI.
“They weren’t just used in the calvary, they would use them to transport artillery or wagons.”
This is a photo of Art Oke, crew member of a tank named “Angel”.
Lt. Col. Finney moved onto WWII, specifically D-Day.
He mentioned they jumped off their saddles and crawled into tanks.
“We never actually deployed with the tanks until June 6th, 1944, when the regiment used the Duplex Drive Sherman Tanks and drove onto the beaches of Normandy.”
D-Day was chaotic and Lt. Col. Finney says many soldiers did not even start or finish their objectives during that fateful day, with the exception of one.
“The third squadron of the First Hussars landed on a beach called C-Squadron and one of the troop leaders Lt. Bill McCormack who was responsible of a troop of three tanks landed on the beach and fought for a bit through the town of Colleville-sur-Mer, he ended up at a part of the country side where there was no enemy, and they were the only allied soldiers to reach their objectives on D-Day.”
Just recently Lt. McCormack past away and on the 13th of November the Regiment will go to Toronto to remember his courage.
