The 20th Battalion’s success at Iuwy came at a terrible cost, and the Ranger’s rifle companies were at something like 45 men where each normally had 227. A handful of new volunteers and conscripts trickled in every week as did another handful who returned from hospitals. But the advance towards and then across Belgium had to continue.
Read MoreOn this day in 1812, the Battle of Queenston Heights took place on the banks of the Niagara River near Queenston, Ontario. The battle was fought between British forces (Regulars, Militia and Indigenous allies) led by Maj. Gen. Isaac Brock and an American army under Maj. Gen. Stephen Van Rensselaer.
Read MoreThe “Hundred Days” of spectacular achievement and bitter price between August 8th 1918 and the Armistice of November 11th are little understood in Canada. The 20th Battalion, the Rangers, remember October 11th at Iwuy for both.
Read MoreThe 4th of October also marks the 249th anniversary of the Battle of Germantown in Pennsylvania. The battle occurred a month after the British defeated the American Army in the Battle of Brandywine and the capture of the American capital, Philadelphia. Following the occupation of Philadelphia, the British General William Howe moved most of his army out of the capital, leaving a 3000 man garrison.
Read MoreIn popular memory, the 1916 Somme Offensive is remembered for its failures and the appalling losses sustained during it. The experience of the Rangers’ 20th Battalion is – slightly – different.
The Somme Offensive is the halfway point of the First World War, where the enthusiastic British and Canadian amateurs of the first half of the war became proficient masters of battle for its second.
Read MoreSince 1756, the Ranger saga has been made up of many acts of individual initiative and prowess with an outsized influence. October 1st, 1916, on the Somme, this was shown yet again.
Read MoreHCol Leslie Frost, PC, QC, LLD, DCL, MPP
Leslie Frost was appointed Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of The Queen's York Rangers in 1965 and became the Honorary Colonel in 1968, serving until 1973.
Read MoreHCol Jake Vanderploeg, CD
Jake Vanderploeg was appointed Honorary Colonel of The Queen’s York Rangers in 1963 and served until 1969.
During the First World War, Vanderploeg joined the American Army and served in France with the 32nd “Red Arrow” Division. By the end of the war, he had risen to the rank of Battalion Sergeant Major.
Read MoreThe maelstrom of the Somme Offensive of 1916 drew in the Canadians, including the 20th Battalion, from a year in the Ypres Salient. The first three Canadian Divisions were assigned to be part of the next big “push” and were aimed at the battered village of Courcelette, further up the Albert-Bapaume Road.
Read MoreHCol Neville Poy, OC, OStJ
Neville Poy was appointed Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of The Queen’s York Rangers in 2003 and then served as Honorary Colonel from 2007 to 2010. He was subsequently appointed Honorary Colonel Emeritus and continues supporting the Regiment in that role.
HCol David Macdonald Stewart, OC, KStJ, KCLJ
David Macdonald Stewart was appointed Honorary Colonel of The Queen’s York Rangers in 1973, serving until his death in 1984.
Read MoreHCol Liliane Macdonald Stewart, OC, CStJ, OQ, CD
Liliane Macdonald Stewart was appointed Honorary Colonel of The Queen’s York Rangers in 1984. She served until 2007 and then as Honorary Colonel Emeritus until her death in 2014.
Read MoreToday is the 20th anniversary of Operation Medusa, a Canadian-led operation in the Zhari and Panjawi districts of Kandahar province in Afghanistan from September 2nd to 17th, 2006. The 1st Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment (1RCR) Battle Group (BG) primarily carried out the operation, supported by the Afghan National Army and the United States' 3rd Special Forces Group. Many members of The Queens York Rangers were in Afghanistan at the time, however, WO Goldenberg (CWO Retired and former Ranger RSM) and Cpl Wood (Sgt Retired) were directly attached to the 1RCR BG Task Force 3-06 (TF 3-06) Headquarters. Both were members of the Tactical Psychological Operations (PSYOP) Team, who moved through the area of operation (AO) in two G Wagons
Read MoreHCol Sally Horsfall Eaton, CM, CD
Sally Horsfall Eaton was appointed Honorary Colonel of The Queen's York Rangers in 2020 and served until 2025.
HCol William James Stewart, CBE, CD, MPP
William James Stewart was appointed Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of The Queen's York Rangers in 1944 and Honorary Colonel in 1947, a position he held for fifteen years.
Read MoreHCol Darrell Bricker
Darrell Bricker was appointed Honorary Colonel of The Queen's York Rangers in 2010 and served until 2021. He continues to serve the Regiment as Honorary Colonel Emeritus.
Read MoreThe Honorary Colonels of The Queen's York Rangers
In the Canadian Army, several honorary appointments may be granted: Colonel-in-Chief, Colonel of the Regiment, Honorary Colonel and Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel. Most Reserve regiments have two: an Honorary Colonel and an Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel.
Read MoreThe Queen’s York Rangers (1st American Regiment) (RCAC) continue to build upon a proud legacy of service by entering a period of mission-focused restructuring. Developments across leadership, collective training, and modernization reinforce the Regiment's resolve in contributing to Canada's domestic and international defence commitments.
Read MoreOn July 9, 1793, Upper Canada (now Ontario) passed the first anti-slavery law in a British territory. The legislation was known as the Act Against Slavery, or by its full title, An Act to Prevent the Further Introduction of Slaves and to Limit the Term of Contracts for Servitude. The law was passed 14 years before Britain outlawed the Atlantic slave trade through the Slave Trade Act of 1807 and 40 years before the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 ended slavery throughout most of the British Empire.
Read MoreToronto’s Montgomery's Tavern is an historical site located on Yonge Street at its intersection with Eglinton. It was built in the 1820s. The site where the Tavern once stood is most famous for its use during the Rebellion of 1837, where William Lyon Mackenzie, the leader of the Rebellion, used it as a headquarters for his fight against the powerful Family Compact. The compact was an almost aristocratic group that ruled Upper Canada through control of much of the political, economic, and judicial power in the region.
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