Major Richard (Dick) Rollitt Cottingham CD

The Cottingham family recently made a decision that the 15th Field Artillery Regiment Museum and Archives would be an appropriate location for their father's artillery artefacts. Major Richard (Dick) Rollit Cottingham CD was born in Calgary, Alberta. He enlisted in The Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery in Vancouver, B.C. in 1942 at the age of 19. He volunteered to go overseas during World War II, served with the 81st Field Regiment, RCA as it was being renamed to 3rd Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery and served in Korea with the Regiment in 1953. Major Cottingham took part in one of the early United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) peacekeeping tours in Lebanon and served as the Aide de Camp to the  Lieutenant-Governor of Saskatchewan. He retired as a Major in 1966  and passed away on 4 Aug 2004 at the age of 81. 
On 19 December 2024, the family visited the Bessborough Armoury and donated Major Cottingham's sword, commissioning scroll and medals. The sword is now on displayed in the Officers' sword rack, the medals have been placed in our medal collection and the commissioning scroll has been filed away in the archives.

The visit to Bessborough Armoury consisted of a short tour of the Regimental Museum where some required paperwork was completed and then it was upstairs to the Officers' Mess where Major Cottingham's sword was officially presented to the Regiment's Second in Command, Major Alex Haussmann, and placed in the Officer's Mess swordcase.

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