Tribute to soldiers must be done right

The proposal initiated by Royal United Services Institute to place numerical symbols on a hillside overlooking the river adjacent to the Trans-Canada Highway as a tribute to the soldiers of Medicine Hat who fought in the Great War is shortsighted and poorly conceived. To that end it should not be initiated as is unless revisited and amended to include two additional unit titles.

The exclusion of the number 31 representing the 31st Canadian Infantry Battalion CEF and the number designation of 13CMR for the 13th Canadian Mounted Rifles CEF is to deny the right of rightful homage and recognition based on criteria given for the other two, that being the 175th Canadian Infantry Battalion CEF, and the 3rd Canadian Mounted Rifles CEF as proposed by the RUSI.

The 31st Battalion drew 100plus Hatters in their ranks and it is into the 31st that many 175th Battalion members went and died as replacements. The 13th CMR was stationed here in Medicine Hat and trained at the old exhibition grounds (now the MedHat Airport) and it was from the 13th that Pte James Robertson VC and Lt Fred Harvey VC initially enlisted prior to their transfer to other units where they were awarded their respective Victoria Crosses. The Honour Rolls of both the 175th and the 13CMR now reside in the Esplanade Archives. To name the hill after Robertson and yet not include the unit he enlisted would be both a disservice and a dishonour. To allow his inclusion based on that criteria and not his fellow soldiers would convey a feeling that unless you received a VC, your service is dismissed.

As a former service member of these units that my Regiment perpetuates, I must state I support the initiative but not the project as proposed without inclusion of the 31st and the 13CMR respectively.

Do it right or not at all.

Jim Ogston, (MWO Ret’d) Medicine Hat

(The writer is former museum curator and founder of the South Alberta Light Horse Regimental Museum.)