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Here you will find an ever-expanding collection of documents and images pertaining to Canada’s senior cavalry regiment, The Royal Canadian Dragoons.
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Photographs and Memories: Two Dragoons, Two Wars and What They Brought Home
Canadian soldiers are inveterate collectors of souvenirs. During the Great War it was said that British soldiers fought for the King, French soldiers fought for the Republic and Canadian soldiers fought for souvenirs. So, what kinds of photographs and memories did soldiers bring home? This page takes a look at two Royal Canadian Dragoons who served in two different wars: 550374 Trooper Frederick George Cole who fought with The RCD in the Great War and H63710 Trooper Wilfred Thomas Lipton who fought with the regiment in the Second World War.
During both of these wars, soldiers had little room to carry anything much other than their issued kit and equipment. A soldier had a small pack or haversack, a large pack and a kitbag, which was held in the 2ndEchelon by the Squadron Quartermaster Sergeant. Soldiers would collect souvenirs, only to part with them to make room for newer souvenirs. For Second World War Canadian soldiers who fought in Sicily and Italy and then North-West Europe, very few Italian souvenirs made the cut. Almost everything they brought back was from Belgium, the Netherlands or Germany. One of the favourite souvenirs for Great War Dragoons was the regimental ribbon that had adorned the left epaulet of their tunics.
Fred Cole was born in Everett, Ontario in 1897. He served in the Non-Permanent Active Militia in Toronto’s 48th Highlanders before joining the Permanent Active Militia (the Regular Force) and served with The Royal Canadian Dragoons in Canada from 1915 until early 1917, when he joined The Royal Canadian Dragoons (Canadian Expeditionary Force). He performed as part of the Regiment’s Musical Ride at the Exhibition in Toronto in 1915 (and likely in 1916). He joined the regiment in France on 10 November 1917 and fought with the regiment all the way through to the end of the war. Fred spent some time holding the rank of Acting Corporal while at the Canadian Reserve Cavalry Regiment, which held cavalry replacements in England to feed the regiments in France. He was released from the Army on 31 May 1919 at Toronto, and there we lose touch with him except through his artifacts.
Wilf Lipton, was a hard-rock miner born Outlook, Saskatchewan in September 1915. He was working for the Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Company before he joined the Canadian Active Service Force on 24 June 1941 at Flin Flon, Manitoba. He completed his basic training in Fort William, Ontario at the 102 Canadian Army (Basic) Training Centre before proceeding to Camp Borden to train as a Royal Canadian Armoured Corps Driver/Mechanic. He proceeded overseas to the United Kingdon with The Royal Canadian Dragoons and fought in Italy and North-West Europe before proceeding home to Canada and being released at Winnipeg on 26 September 1945.
We know much more about Wilf Lipton’s life after he served than Fred Cole’s. He returned to Snow Lake and went back to mining with the Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Company where he had worked from 1932 until he joined the Army. He continued to work with that same company until he retired in 1980: 48 years less his time in uniform: a remarkable career in any line of work. In addition to his work, Wilf spent countless hours in the hockey arena at Snow Lake, donating his time to coach. He usually worked with the youngest players and was constantly praising and encouraging them. Such was his influence on several generations of hockey players that the Town of Snow Lake renamed its hockey rink the Wilfred T. Lipton Arena. At the time of his death on 4 November 2001 he had one son, two grandsons, two daughters and a great-granddaughter.
Appropriately for a fighting Dragoon, he was buried on 7 November 2001: the 100th anniversary of the Action at Leliefontein.
Both of these Canadian soldiers left us with photographs and documents, but Wilf Lipton also left us other souvenirs for us to see and ponder. And it sometimes makes you ask yourself the question why did he keep that and why did he bring it home?