The British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own)

The British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own)

Regimental badge
Active 12 October 1883–Present
Country Canada
Branch Canadian Army
Primary Reserve
Type Armoured Reconnaissance
Role To defeat the enemy through the aggressive use of firepower and battlefield mobility
Part of 39 Canadian Brigade Group
3rd Canadian Division
Garrison/HQ

Beatty Street Drill Hall

Vancouver, British Columbia
Patron Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
Motto Irish: Faugh a ballagh (Clear the way)
March "I'm Ninety-Five"
Battle honours South Africa, 1900; Ypres, 1915, '17; Gravenstafel; St. Julien; Festubert, 1915; Mount Sorrel; Somme, 1916, '18; Flers-Courcelette; Thiepval; Ancre Heights; Ancre 1916; Arras, 1917, '18; Vimy, 1917; Arleux; Hill 70; Passchendaele; Amiens; Scarpe, 1917, '18; Drocourt–Quéant; Hindenburg Line; Canal du Nord; Cambrai 1918; Valenciennes; France and Flanders, 1915–18; Falaise; Falaise Road; The Laison; Chambois; The Scheldt; The Lower Maas; The Rhineland; The Hochwald; Veen; Twente Canal; Küsten Canal; Bad Zwischenahn; North-West Europe, 1944–1945; Afghanistan
Commanders
Commanding officer Maj Douglas Evans
Abbreviation BCR (DCO)

The British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own) is a Primary Reserve armoured reconnaissance (recce) regiment of the Canadian Army; the regiment is subordinate to 39 Canadian Brigade Group of the 3rd Canadian Division. Established in 1883, it is the oldest military unit in Vancouver, British Columbia. It parades at the Beatty Street Drill Hall at the corner of Dunsmuir and Beatty in downtown Vancouver. The regiment has been variously designated as garrison artillery, rifles, infantry, and armoured, but has been reconnaissance since 1965. It has received 41 battle honours in its history, and has been a unit of the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps since 1942.

Lineage

The camp flag of The BCR.

The British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own) originated in Victoria, British Columbia on 12 October 1883, when the British Columbia Provisional Regiment of Garrison Artillery was formed. It was redesignated as the British Columbia Brigade of Garrison Artillery on 7 May 1886, as the British Columbia Battalion of Garrison Artillery on 1 January 1893, as the 5th British Columbia Battalion of Garrison Artillery on 1 January 1895 and the 5th British Columbia Regiment, Canadian Artillery on 28 December 1895. The regiment was reorganized and split into two battalions on 1 July 1896, designated the 1st Battalion (now the 5th (British Columbia) Field Artillery Regiment, RCA) and 2nd Battalion, which was detached and converted to infantry and redesignated the 6th Battalion Rifles on 1 August 1899, with headquarters in Vancouver. It was redesignated the 6th Regiment The Duke of Connaught's Own Rifles on 1 May 1900.[1]

Following the Great War on 12 March 1920, the 6th Regiment The Duke of Connaught's Own Rifles was amalgamated with the 104th Regiment (Westminster Fusiliers of Canada), now The Royal Westminster Regiment, and redesignated as the 1st British Columbia Regiment. It was redesignated the 1st British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own) on 1 November 1920. On 15 May 1924 it was reorganized into three separate regiments, designated The Vancouver Regiment, The Westminster Regiment and the 1st British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own). The 1st British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own) was redesignated The British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own Rifles) on 15 January 1930 and the 2nd (Reserve) Battalion, The British Columbia Regiment, (Duke of Connaught's Own Rifles) on 7 November 1940. The regiment was converted to armour and redesignated the 13th Armoured Regiment (The British Columbia Regiment), RCAC, on 1 April 1946, The British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own) (13th Armoured Regiment) on 4 February 1949, The British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own) (RCAC), on 19 May 1958 and finally The British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own) on 7 October 1985. On 13 June 2002, it was amalgamated with The Irish Fusiliers of Canada (The Vancouver Regiment).[1]

Lineage of the British Columbia Regt (Duke of Connaught's Own):