We welcomed Tom Brown, previous President of the club as a guest.

 

President Gerry congratulated the club on another very successful Tour of Homes. 

 

Our guest speaker was Peter Leack, former Clerk for the City of St. Thomas and a member of the Elgin Regimental Association.  Peter had been a member of the Elgin Regiment until his retirement in 2004. 

The Elgin Regiment is presently an Engineer Regiment though has moved from Cavalry to Armoured to Light Armoured in the past. 

Peter spoke to us of the history of the Kangaroo Regiment, comprised of members of the Elgins.  In August 1944, following the invasion of Europe, the Kangaroos were established in the Netherlands and disbanded in September 1945 in the Netherlands so they never actually had a presence in Canada.  Their job was also secret so it wasn’t until 2011 when a reunion was held and the regiment was presented with their own colours at a ceremony attended by Lord Elgin and his wife at the Armory.

The Kangaroo Regiment was jobbed with moving troops in a new and innovative way.  Because the troops crossing Europe with the armoured divisions were exposed to enemy fire, they needed some way to lessen the danger.   The turret and accompanying ammunition was removed from the tanks allowing 10 men to be transported inside.  These became the first Armoured Personnel Carriers, precursor to the present day LAV built in London by General Dynamics and used by the infantry. 

Because no other military was using this method, it was kept secret and the Kangaroos did not received the recognition they deserved for decades.

 

Happy Fins:  32 Happy Fins were donated, many in appreciation of Peter’s presentation, many for a successful Tour of Homes, some for personal milestones, and some for just showing up.  Unfortunately, the paper upon which they were recorded seems to have disappeared.  Fortunately, Pat has a record of how much each member donated.

 

Next week’s meeting is on the Foundation and Trudy will be presenting.

 

November 29 we will have a representative from the Health Unit teaching us how to use a Noloxone Kit and, for anyone who feels they are in a position that they might have a need to administer it, they will provide a kit. 

Posted By Barbara

 

**The Board reminds Members that we can bring canned goods to next week’s meeting in support of the Interact Club’s “Hallowe’en for Hunger” campaign. Trish