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Page contains clippings from 3 newspaper articles about a reunion of members of the 58th Battery, C.F.A. and the 32nd annual banquet of the 15th Brigade, C. F. A.

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  • 48.4359, -123.35155
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  • [start clipping] [annotation in ink:] Jan. 1955 Gunners Now Missionaries Reunited In Victoria TWO GUNNERS of the 58th Battery, C.F.A., who served in France for 16 months in World War I and are now serving in mission fields 9,000 miles apart, met here last week for the first time in many years. They were Alan G. McIntosh, of the African Inland Mission in the Belgian Congo, and Percy E. Wills, of the Shantymen's Christian Association, whose field is Vancouver Island, particularly the rugged West Coast, which he covers in the stout mission boat, Messenger III. Mr. McIntosh came to Victoria to visit some old members of the 58th Batery, including Dr. William Newton, Scott Mason, Phil Brethour, W.H. Robertson, Percy Gilson, Archie H. Wills, Dr. J.M. Fowler, Gordon A. Cameron, and Lt.-Col. D.Travis, now officer commanding the Canadian Scottish, but a bombardier in the 58th Battery. Mr. McIntosh has been serving in Africa for nearly 20 years. He was forced to remain there for 10 years during his last stretch owing to the war. He hopes to return in four years in time to see his three daughters graduate from university. They began their studies this term. He was accompanied by Mrs. McIntosh and their 12-year-old daughter Myrtle on his visit here. Formerly a member of the Vancouver Rowing Club, he rowed in an N.P.A.A.O. regatta at Shawnigan Lake in 1923 against junior four-oared crews from the J.B.A.A. of Victoria and the Portland Rowing Club. Percy Wills, by good fortune, had completed a tempestuous two months on the West Coast in Messenger III and came to the city to make his annual report to the Shantymen. During his stay out there he went through the wild storms that wrecked his former command, Messenger II, with the loss of young Bruce McLean, son of Dr. H.A. McLean, the medical missionary at Nootka Mission Hospital. The two missionaries recalled not only their work in their mission fields but also their days together in France, particularly the last 100 days of the war when their battery was in continuous action. Mr. McIntosh was awarded the Military Medal and during the March to the Rhine contracted the 'flu, which resulted in his return to Vancouver. Mr. Wills, still in his 'teens at the end of the war although with over three years' service to his credit, was injured in the final drive to Mons. He was a signaller and when riding through heavy shelling his horse fell and rolled on him. This sent him to hospital. Soon after discharge from the army, Mr. Wills took up missionary work. Many interesting stories were told by Mr. McIntosh of pygmies, leopard and elephant hunting and witch-doctors. For his return to Africa he will take a freighter from New Orleans to a port on the West Coast of Africa and drive in a station wagon over dirt roads to his post in the Congo. This will be somewhat of an adventure for the party of three as they will have to carry extra water, gasoline, oil and provisions. There are no service stations on the way. [end clipping] [start clipping] [annotation in ink:] Jan. 55 Congo Missioner Joins War Pals At CFA Reunion Men who fired and serviced 4.5-inch howitzers in the First World War gathered Wednesday in reunion when one of their number, Rev. Allan G. McIntosh, visited from the Belgian Congo where he is a missionary. The Victoria men are among the survivors of Right Section, 58th Battery, C.F.A., and met at the home of one of their former sergeants, Archie H. Wills, 1231 Fairfield. Rev. McIntosh, with his wife, have just completed their fourth furlough from Africa, and are headed back to the Congo. He left Victoria 39 years ago when he joined the Canadian forces, and on his return lived in Vancouver before studying for the ministry. Others present for the reunion were: Judge J.B. Clearihue, MC, and Dr. Arthur Chatwin, MC, who served as Lieutenants; Gordon A. Cameron, F. Scott Mason, John A. Hibberson and Archie Wills, sergeants; Hayward C. Kinghorn and Harry E. Hunt, corporals; Dr. William A. Newton, Lieut.-Col. Robert D. Travis, MBE, and W.H. Robertson, bombardiers; Phil E. Brethour, shoeing-smith; Percy Gilson and George Lomas, gunners; Rev. Percy E. Wills, signaller; Alfred Dowell and Ralph Cruickshanks, drivers; Dr. J.M. Fowler, unit medical officer. [end clipping] [start clipping] Old Soldiers Meet Again At Renunion of Fifteenth [annotation in ink:] May 30-1954 Thre's a lilt and a swing to an old soldiers' reunion. But it's hard to express in words, because the army has a language of its own that is soul satisfying to red-blooded men, but too robust for civilians. Last night, 30-odd years of civilian life vanished in the twinkling of a comrade's eye as the 15th Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery, staged its 32nd annual banquet. NOT QUITE MILITARY When the 78 veterans of the Fifteenth fell in for rum ration some of them showed signs of the wear and tear of the passing years. And there was nothing military about the line-up. But when "Field Marshal" George Lomas, famous as the man who mended "36,000 pairs of shoes" in the World War and a saddler with the Fifteenth in the Great War, soon whipped his troops into shape. Then the Fifteenth marched once around the Bay Street Armoury. They ignored a gun sitting on the armoury floor. Every army unit reunion is essentially the same, but the Fifteenth packed a lot of color into last night's dinner. MOMENT OF TRIBUTE There was a minute's silence in tribute to old members of the unit who died in Victoria recently. Then the Fifteenth sang "O Canada." The words were flashed partly on the wall and partly on the ceiling because the projector was out of kilter, but there was nothing wrong with the singing. The sidelights tell the story when a unit like the Fifteenth stages a renunion dinner. There was the man who ate all the olives and green onions in memory of the days when all he could get to eat was bully beef. And the voice heard above the hum: "And they shipped thousands and thousands of rabbits from Australia to feed us." And the man telling the story about the professor of anthology who served as a gunner with the Fifteenth. "The professor," said the voice, "used to sit and read the 'Iliad' in the original Greek and claimed that he had a secret formula which would make him the only man in the Canadian army in France who never got lousy. FORGOT ABOUT FORMULA "The (sic) would have made it too, only he got too interested in his book and forgot to apply his formula. The telegrams told a lot about life in the Fifteenth between 1915 and 1919. Supreme Court Judge C.H. Locke, who belonged to the Fifteenth, sent regrets and $5 to help defray expenses of the dinner. Ex-member telegrams were also received from a fur buyer in Montreal, two missionaries and a man who had to go to Portland as a member of the Victoria May Queen's court. Prior to the dinner everyone got up and introduced himself and, besides Victoria, there were members from James Island, Duncan, Nanaimo, Port Alberni, Vancouver, Walla Walla, Sidney, Oak Bay, Esquimalt, Shawnigan Lake, Chicago and Belfast, Ireland. Oldest member was 81-year-old L.S. Foulkes, formerly of Victoria, now of Chicago. FAVORITE SONG Favorite song at the Fifteenth's reunion dinner was "Petawawa." The words were: "And I'll never go there any more; down where the Ottawa flows." The Fifteenth seemed to mean it, because they sang the song three times. In his "Toast to the Brigade," Dr. J.M. Fowler, the Fifteenth's medical officer, gave a good reason why William Newton, former gunner, now a pathologist at the Dominion Experimental Farm, didn't like Petawawa. "He got an earwig in his ear," the speaker said. In his repsonse to the toast Lt.-Col. Vincent McKenna said: "Thirty-three years ago last month we left the Brown Jug corner in Victoria. "After kissing four or five hundred girls," he added. SUDDEN DAMPENER A sudden dampener was put on last night's party when a $36 deficit was discovered in the banquet costs. But it was only temporary. The deficit was oversubscribed about five times, so that President E.H. Kin[?] and Secretary Ralph were left with a fund to buy poppy wreaths for members of the Fifteenth who dropped out and to help members who "aren't doing so well." There's a spirit about the old soldier that's hard to beat. [end clipping]
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