The funeral for Warrant Officer II George Chow CD was held on 16 August 2021 . The 15th Field Artillery Regiment and the Vancouver Artillery Association assisted in fulfilling one of George's wishes which was to have his remains driven by his house one last time. The Field Artillery Tractor pulled the limber and funeral gun through the neighbourhood with the assistance of the Vancouver Police Motorcycle Squad, Burnaby RCMP. Harry Moon provided his CMP as backup should there be any mechanical problems. Rounds Complete, George. Stand Easy. More photos can be found here.
The second draft of the Yorke Island Docent Package has now been completed. Any comments with additional information to insert in the package or simply an email pointing out typos would be greatly appreciated! president.vcrgunners@gmail.com Thanks to some great editing comments from Peter Moogk, the package has been amended and the B version is now attached for your review.
Bombardier Eric Halstead has continued working away, upgrading our nominal rolls. His latest revision has been that of a former member from World War I. Gunner William Markham Colchester was enrolled in the 59th Battery, 15th Brigade, RCA during the war but it was afterwards that he was mentioned in the newspaper. It seems he returned to his former career in the banking industry and was a manager at the Norwich branch in 1967. He apparently didn't take kindly to unauthorized withdrawals. Check out the story from the Edmonton Bulletin, 26 Jun 1947
There's so much great work happening on Yorke Island, I just couldn't resist a visit to personally thank the team from 192 Construction Engineering Flight. After my Rotary stint on Sunday (selling 50/50 tickets - the pots over $200K!) I grabbed the 6:00 ferry and arrived in Campbell River at 10. Rather rustic hotel. Picked up some propane on the way to Sayward and caught the BC Parks boat with the Comox Public Affairs team. Ross gave us the tour as we mad our way to the Fort. Yorke Island hasn't seen this level of work since the camp buildings were all removed! I presented the 192 CEF with a UBIQUE 150 coin and the promise of a bottle of UBIQUE 150 whisky to be delivered to their home station on their return! As a bonus, they fabricated a flagpole for the island. It was only fitting that the Engineer flag was the first to be flown. Chimo! See more photos here...
Yorke's having a great week! Check out the latest photos here.
More pictures have been added to the Yorke Island 192 CEF page. There's some awesome work taking place on the island. Yorke has seen this scale of upgrade since the 6" guns arrived in June 1942!
The 192 Construction Engineering Flight has arrived on Yorke Island Via the Aurora Explorer to carry out upgrades in the gun emplacements. The ramp may not look as pretty as the original wharf, but it was sufficient to move all the equipment off the beach before the tide came in. Great job!
Stu McDonald and Ian Newby brought a 6 pounder and a crew of re-enactors from IMS to help former Royal Regina Rifleman, Sergeant Swityk celebrate his 100th birthday. Sergeant Swityk commanded two 6 pounder anti-tank guns which by the end of the day were the furthest inland of all the Allies that had landed on 6 June 1944. His Company Commander was Stu McDonald's uncle.
Captain (Ret'd) Doug Gayton, MMM, CD sweetened our Yorke Island Gator project fund with a substantial donation. Would you like to help out the Yorke Island team? We currently have 10 soldier from 192 Construction Engineering Flight on the Island upgrading some of the gun emplacement overhead shelters. A Gator would have been real helpful! We've got another bunch of projects on the books and the Gator sure will be helpful in the future.
Thanks to Captain (Ret'd) Doug Gayton MMM, CD, we have full funding for the production of the Coast Artillery Collector Cards. We just need one final review to ensure that I have all the details correct and that my grammar is proper. Care to join the team reviewing the file? Download the pdf document and email me at president.vcrgunners@gmail.com with your comments.
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