The Commanding Officer’s address to the 1st Canadian Armoured Carrier Regiment
on cessation of hostilities in Europe. Peheim, Germany, 11 May 1945. So popular was this speech to the regiment that a printed copy of it was requested. The following is the contents of that 4 page pamphlet.
Officers, NCO’s and Men of the Kangaroo Regiment, of the L.A.D. and all attached personnel,
The history of the Kangaroos is brief, extending only from the latter part of August to May - a period of just over eight months - but it is packed full of actions from NORMANDY to GERMANY. The original Squadron, operating for two months under difficult conditions and under much neglect, laid well the foundations on which the Regiment was built. The Regiment, organized hastily under great difficulties, was thrust into action long before it was fully prepared and has been employed almost continually since the first week of January. I doubt if any group of men have had more active campaigning or fought under more difficult conditions than
the Kangaroos.
The cost has been heavy. The four months of campaigning from January to May resulted in a casualty list of TWELVE killed and SEVENTY-ONE wounded - a high price to pay, but it has been the price of success, for no action in which the Regiment has been involved has been anything but successful. We honour today our comrades who made the supreme sacrifice.
Distinctions cannot be made easily among so many who have worked so hard, individuals cannot easily be singled out, the Regiment has worked as a team and no one person has been able to operate without the help of others. Consequently I would like to thank you one and all for a magnificent piece of work performed at times under the most discouraging conditions - snow and ice, rain and mud, darkness, fatigue and ever present danger. Unfailingly you have performed every duty, run every risk, counted your lives at small cost - all in a desire to do your duty and uphold the record of the Regiment and of Canada. Everyone has played a part, whether tank driver or operator, fitter or clerk, DR or lorry driver, officer or NCO. You have endured hardship, lack of sleep, long and exhausting drives, the danger of enemy action - anything and everything in order that the infantry might be carried to their objective or that casualties might be evacuated, or that tanks might be recovered or repaired, or petrol or rations brought up, or mail or messages delivered. You have done well. This will be your lasting recollection of your war experiences and will stand you in good stead in the difficult days of readjustment to civilian life - the recollection that you have served your country in the time of peril, have risked your lives in the face of the enemy and have done your duty. No man can do more.
As a Regiment we have some distinctions that are unique. We are the only regiment to be formed in Holland - hence the orange colour which we have adopted for our shoulder flash; the only Canadian Kangaroo regiment and the pioneers in the British Army of that form of service; the only Canadian regiment in 79 British Armoured Division - the specialist assault division of 21 Army Group; these are distinctions of which we may well be proud. Further, by good fortune, we have achieved some “Firsts” which no one can take from us. Although other Canadian regiments set foot upon German soil in the fall of last year, nevertheless we were the first Canadian Armoured regiment to be entirely within Germany - that was in January during the difficult campaign from SITTARD to HEINSBERG.
We were the first Canadian regiment into the SIEGFRIED LINE - that was in February. We were the first Armoured regiment of the Canadian Army to cross the RHINE in March. None of these achievements would have been ours had we not become, through our unfailing efforts, a most necessary and useful instrument in the furtherance of the war. In addition to these things we have served a dual role in that we have been able, through the use of our fire power, to inflict casualties upon the enemy and assault his positions, and we have also been instrumental in saving the lives of countless soldiers who, without the Kangaroos, would have had to advance on foot unprotected from the enemy fire. It is most comforting to reflect that many Canadian and British soldiers are alive today because of this Kangaroo Regiment. We could not ask to perform a more useful job in wartime and the satisfaction of having saved the lives of our comrades has been worth all the toil and hardship and the danger that we have endured.
Peace has now come to Europe. The long course of the war against Germany has been brought to a successful conclusion. We stand here conquerors on German soil, destroyers of the curse of Naziism, defenders of Liberty and the right to individual Freedom and Peace, representatives of a democratic country and of the great British Commonwealth of Nations. In the lives of all of us it is an historic occasion, a great achievement which we may well recall with pride in the years to come.
Again, let me thank you all for your steadfastness, your courage, your loyalty and your devotion to duty. You have brought honour to the Regiment and to Canada.
Lt. Col. Gordon Minto Churchill, DSO, ED.