March discipline was excellent and not a vehicle or gun was left behind
in the 1000 mile march.
There were 5 staging camps at ST. RAMBERT, MACON, LES LAUMES, MELUN and CAMBRAI
respectively.
All ranks were much interested in their first glimpse of the famous French girls and much
amusement was caused when the
CO,
Lt-Col. G.A. Rankin and the
IO,
Lt. R.H. Ellison paid more attention to a certain blonde than the road signs and
managed to get
slighty lost.
The route was extremely well marked and the trip though tiring was full
of interest.
Miles and miles of
Jerry vehicles and guns wrecked by the
air force were passed.
After Italy the cleanliness and friendliness of the people was especially
striking.
It was extremely difficult to carry out the security orders of no talking to
the civilians.
The morale of the men and officers was naturally lower owing to the ban
on CANADAs and formation patches.
Everyone has a tremendous pride in being Canadian and dislike intensely
having to pretend to be another nationality.
The weather was cold and sunny and towards the end everyone was very tired, needing
a bath and anxious to get to their destination.
45.
After leaving CAMBRAI on the 7th March the Regiment met the advance party under
Capt. C.E. Brown,
MC at COURTRAI and were led to their
new home in WERVIK, a Belgian town on the French border.
Everyone was billetted with families in the town and the welcome that
the individuals and the Regiment as a whole received makes the stay there
second in importance to OTTERLOO in the history of the Regiment.
The way that everyone became a member of a family and was made to feel so
at home was truly amazing and was reflected in the pride the men took in their
appearance.
After ITALY to suddenly have a home and family to be able to go into a pub and order a beer,
and the speedy granting of UK leaves made many wonder if they were not in heaven.
Security was lifted and morale jumped even higher when the men again became
Canadians.
The Belgian Red
Cross were really wonderful, opening a swish canteen for the men,
sparing no effort to make them happy and feel at home.