With news that the Canadian military just this week has finally made progress on replacing their WWII-era Browning Hi-Powers, this 80th-anniversary image seems very relevant:
The above shows one middle-aged Corporal A.M. McLean of the Veteran’s Guard of Canada in June 1943. Clad in a No. 2 helmet and armed with an American-made Reising submachine gun, his unit was tasked primarily with guarding Axis E-POWs in Canada.
At the time the image was taken, the force, composed largely of Great War vets still ready to serve in secondary roles, was at its height, numbering over 10,000 men under arms at a time when the country had a population of just 11 million.
A Canadian “Dad’s Army,” for sure.
As noted by the IWM:
On 23rd May 1940, it was announced in the Canadian Parliament that a Veterans Home Guard was being formed from men between the ages of 40 and 65, mainly WW1 veterans. The idea was to make use, for domestic security duties, of experienced personnel too old for active service overseas. Twelve companies, each of around 250 personnel, were to be formed initially, with a number of reserve companies formed in due course. The name was shortly changed to the Veterans Guard of Canada.
They would be named with a mix of Ross rifles, SMLE .303s, and P14 Enfields.
Note the Ross rifles. “Inspection of Veteran Guard, Internment Camp 130,” Kananaskis, Alta., photographed by William John Oliver LAC 3514979
Veterans Guard members, including some very aged corporals, training with a SMLE No. 1. MKIII
On the march with American-made P14 Enfields
Members of the Veterans Guard of Canada pose for a color publicity photo in an Ottawa studio via the LAC
Veterans Guard of Canada member poses for a color publicity photo, complete with his Belgian Great War ribbons, LAC
Many stood guard over power plants, factories, and other sites considered potentially vulnerable but most were assigned as guards for prisoner of war and internment camps. Guarding these prisoners was initially the responsibility of the Canadian Provost Corps but in May 1941 full responsibility for them was passed to the Veterans Guard. It was to prove a significant undertaking. Britain had initially asked Canada to accept some 4,000 internees and 3,000 prisoners of war, but this soon increased to the point where, at its peak in October 1944, Canada was holding no less than 34,193 prisoners on behalf of the UK.
With the growth of tasks came the growth of the Guard.
By March 1941 there were 29 active companies with a total strength of 206 officers and 6,360 other ranks. Of these, 98 officers and 2,848 other ranks were guarding internment camps, the balance of personnel being employed in guarding vulnerable points and training. There were in addition 43 reserve companies with a total strength of 183 officers and 3,765 other ranks.
The Guard reached its peak of strength in June 1943, when its Active strength was 451 officers and 9,806 other ranks, which included 37 companies and 17 internment camp staff in Canada.
The Guard also served overseas. One served in Newfoundland, and another went to the UK as the General Duties Company at CMHQ in London.
In the spring of 1942, there was concern that ships carrying bauxite from the mines in British Guiana might be sabotaged while on the Demerara River. The British Government asked whether Canada could provide white officers and NCOs to supervise the locally recruited colored guards assigned to the shipping. No. 34 Company was formed for this purpose, comprising officers and NCOs only, and it reached Georgetown in June 1942. The posting was extremely unpleasant, as the ships were filthy and the weather sweltering. They were not withdrawn until January 1945.
The British Government also requested Canada to provide a guard for the Governor of the Bahamas, The Duke of Windsor. ‘N’ Force, or No. 33 Company of the Veterans Guard, was formed for that purpose in April 1943 and arrived in Nassau in June. They were relieved by a company of the Pictou Highlanders in the autumn.
There were other less routine assignments. In early 1944 the British Army Staff in Washington asked Canada to supply personnel to “conduct” mules from New York to Karachi. Four shiploads of mules were taken by Canadian Army parties between March 1944 and April 1945, four of which were provided by the Veterans Guard.
The last Veterans Companies were disbanded in 1947.