Barrhead militia veteran reminisces about his military career

BARRHEAD - Charles (Chuck) Mortimer joined Canada's militia, now the reserves, while still in high school.

At the time, he was living on his family's farm outside of Bowden, he told the Barrhead Leader in mid-October, between planting Canadian flags at Barrhead's Field of Honour.

The Field of Honour, a few minutes outside of Barrhead on the old Manola Highway, was given to the municipality in 1925 by the Anglican Church to honour the nation's veterans who have passed.

Mortimer was reminiscing about his time in the military after finding a long-lost photograph of himself standing outside his billet in Banff while in charge of a survival training unit.

"I did that for six months, in about 1962," he said, adding much of the training had to do with rescue recovery and dealing with radiation. 

"It was at the height of the Cold War," Mortimer explained.

He said he always knew he would join the Canadian Armed Forces, following his father's footsteps.

Mortimer's father, a recent immigrant to Canada, enlisted in 1916 and was sent overseas to England after his basic training. However, he contracted Spanish Flu and was sidelined for the rest of the war. 

In the Second World War, after attempting to enlist with the Canadian Armed Forces, he was turned down at 45 because he was too old. Instead, he joined the Veterans Guards of Canada and served as a guard at prisoner-of-war camps, mostly in southern Alberta.

Mortimer joined the militia in 1949, signing up with the King's Own Calgary Regiment in Olds, near his farm in Bowden.

The regiment, part of the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps, was formed in 1910 as an infantry unit. Over the years, it has served many roles, including as a tank armoured unit, a machine gun battalion, and, more recently, a reconnaissance unit.

In October 1952, Mortimer and two other regiment members were invited to the Officer Candidate School at the Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Borden.

"I didn't really know what I was getting into," he said, adding they were only supposed to be at the school for six weeks. "But it turned out to be closer to six months."

He added that the training stint was expanded because the Canadian Armed Forces were preparing officers to be deployed overseas in Korea as part of the Canadian contingent in the United Nations force in the Korean War.

Mortimer added that about half the school's soldiers were regular Canadian Armed Forces personnel, while the other half were from the militia.

"There was a lot of tension among the recruits because people were being dismissed continually," he said.

Mortimer said those who made it through, including him, were sent to the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps School before moving on to CFB Meaford for additional leadership and tank training.

At the end of the six-month training, Mortimer graduated as a Lieutenant.

"At the end of our training, there was a lot of pressure for us to join the regular forces," he said, recalling one captain in particular.

Although Mortimer said he did consider it, he realized he had a higher calling and entered the seminary, a three-year commitment, to become an Anglican priest.

"But after the first year, I needed a job," he said, adding that, fortunately, his officer training opened up many opportunities, including the previously mentioned survival school in Banff.

He also served as a transportation officer in 1965 at what was then CFB Dundurn, Sask; the base has since been downgraded to a detachment in a support role for CFB Moose Jaw) before retiring from the reserves.

Looking back at his experience in the reserves, Mortimer said he would do it all over again, adding that today's youth should also consider it.

"The discipline I learned served me well, and it can do the same for today's youth, no matter where life takes them," he said.

Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com