Signal regiment in the spotlight
Canada’s combat communications specialists to host Garrison Ball
During the First World War, soldiers from what is known today as the 32 Signal Regiment helped establish telephone and telegraph services during Canadian battles.
When those weren’t readily available, they would deploy homing pigeons or runners — brave men who would tuck a note in their pockets and hope they would not get killed on the way to delivering the message.
For more than a century, the regiment has provided crucial support during Canada’s military efforts. Today, that comes in the form of satellites, computers and other — often classified — telecommunication technologies.
And the Toronto regiment’s extensive history in military communications will be on display this weekend when it hosts the Garrison Officers Ball for the first time in its 109-year existence.
Hosting the gala, which is expected to draw 1,300 people to Toronto’s Allstream Centre on Saturday, is a point of pride for the regiment, says 32 Signal Regiment Capt. Ric Rangel-Bron.
“There were signallers in every battle in every movement Canada has ever been in,” he said. “Whether it’s in a peacekeeping or combat role, signallers have been there. It’s a small trade but an essential one, and that’s why we’re so proud of being able to host the Garrison Officers Ball.”
Some of the funds raised through this edition of the ball will support the Vimy Foundation and construction of a $10-million education centre at the site of the gruesome First World War battle in northern France.
More than 10,500 Canadians were killed and wounded in the Battle of Vimy Ridge, which occurred April 9-12, 1917.
“We thought we could contribute to a charity that all Canadians can benefit from,” Rangel-Bron said. “The Vimy Foundation does great work, not only for veterans, but for preserving the memory of what Canada’s contributions were. Canadians, we spend a lot of time in school, in my view, thinking about other nations and certainly our friends to the south.
“We need to understand who we are and the great contributions that our forefathers gave us to allow us to be here and to be free.”
Established in Toronto in 1907 as the 2nd Signalling Company, the regiment primarily used flags, lamps and heliographs — flashing sunlight off mirrors, usually in Morse code — to share messages.
By the First World War, its communication strategies were more sophisticated but still rife with shortcomings.
While telephone lines were installed in the infamous trenches at Vimy, soldiers still relied largely on runners, homing pigeons, lamps and Morse code to communicate battle strategies.
“The challenge was that unless there was a dedicated phone line, and there were few (on the battlefields), you had to find a different way,” Rangel-Brown said. “There were a lot of strategies used in the First World War, but the problem was the timeliness of it.”
Jeremy Diamond, director of the Vimy Foundation, sees the gala as a chance to share the important stories that Vimy veterans are no longer alive to tell.
“This is a perfect opportunity to do the countdown to the centennial of Vimy next year by bringing groups together that, on the one hand, can talk about the regimental military history and, on the other, about passing the torch to young people and making sure younger generations never forget those stories.”