Royal Military College of Canada - Review Yearbook (Kingston, Ontario Canada)

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ANNUAL REUNION, 1967 The gathering of ex-cadets began on Friday, 29 September, with the meeting of the General Council in the Massey Lilbrary. There were delegates from Vancouver Island to Halifax to make the General Council the most representative ever held. Business items of importance were the College Centennial of 1967, the satisfactory financial condition of the Club, the new academic -picture with new courses in Engin- eering and Management, in War Studies, and in Bus- iness Administration, the enlargement of the Graduate Schoolg and progress reports on the R.M.'C. History , Museum, Foundation, and recruiting for the Colleges. The Annual Meeting on Saturday, 30 September, was attended by 116. The Cadet Wing Parade was in- spected and the salute taken by the Club President, Major Fergus Maclaren. The Annual Dinneri 'without speeches, was attended by 320. At the Dinner the Club presented Col. W. R. Sawyer with a set of de- canters to mark his retirement as Vice Commandant and Director of Studies and in appreciation of his long service to the College and the Club. About 210 ex- cadets marched to the Memorial Arch on Sunday, 1 October, the service being conducted by Rev. Chris Carr, a graduate of 1959. This was the largest attend- ance to date. Following the Remembrance Service, two mem- orial Windows were unvieled by the Commandant, Commodore W. P. Hayes, and presented to the 'Coli- lege by Col. Bob Labatt on behalf of the donors of the Dieppe Window and by Dr. John Pike on behalf of the donors of the Colonel E. G. Brooks Window. Eight classes held reun'ions over the week-end, in- cluding the Class entering 1917, which joined the Old Brigade . This Class presented the College with an oil painting of Major-General Rod Kellar, a classsmate, a former member of the College Staff and a 'Canadian divisional commander in World War II. The Old Brigadiers presented Lt.-Col. L. F. Grant with a gift on his retirement as their long-time Secretary.

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WESTERN CANADA EX-CADET WEEKEND The Western Reunion weekend was held this year in Calgary during the weekend 8-10 September, on the occasion of the annual football game between the Col- lege and the University of Calgary. lt was with con- siderable pleasure that the writer found himself ac- companying the College team as a representative of the Parent Club. The first event of the weekend, a d'inner, was held in the Mewata Armoury on the evening of 18 Septem- ber. It was attended by somewhat more than forty ex- cadets and special guests. In addition to members of the Calgary Branch, ex-cadets from Vancouver, Ed- monton and Moose jaw were in attendance. The guests included members of the College Staff, notably the Commandant, No. 2576, CMDRE W. P. Hayes, the Director of Administration. No. 2472, Lt.-Col. P. T. Nation, and the Athletic Director, Mai. J. H. Mc- Leod, Col. R. Schielderup, the Commander of Canad- ian Forces Base Calgary and Dr. Armstrong, President of the University of Calgary. The Commandant ad- dressed the dinner and reviewed the events of the past year at the College. Expressions of greetings and en- -couragement from the Parent Club were presented in the form of a telegram from No. 2691, Majior J. F. Maclaren, the Presi-dent of the Parent Club. The annual meeting and a reception for the ex- cadets and their ladies were held prior to the football game on Saturday, again in the Mewata Armoury. The game, won this year by Calgary with a 21-12 score, was watched by a crowd of approximately two thous- and. At the conclusion of the game, the Colonel San- ders Trophy was presented to the winning team by No. 3611, Maj. I. W. Galbraith. The trophy, which was presented by the Calgary Branch in 1965 for an- nual competition between the University and R.M.C., is named in memory of No. 111, Col. G. E. Sanders, a founding 'member of the Cal.gary Branch. The ex- citing football game, together with a vivid display by the College colour party, pipes and drums at 'half time, made a memorable afternoon. On Saturday evening, an excellent dinner-dance for ex-cadets and cadets was held in the Officers' Mess of the 2nd Battalion of the Queen's Own Rifles of Canada. The now traditional attendance of student nurses from the Cal.gary General Hospital was well received by the cadets. An interesting feature of the evening was the roll call, which in contrast to the cus- tom followed at the Kingston reunion, started off with the most senior ex-cadets and proceeded to the most junior recruit. This latter cadet was then stuck with the chore of expressing the thanks of his fellows for the eveningls entertainment. The chief organizers of this year's Western Re- union, No. 3460, J. H. G. MacKeen, No. 3181, J. M. Willsher, No. 3350, T. W. Pearce, and No. 6699, Lt. G. R. Walker, al.ong with all the members of the Cal- gary Branch deserve great credit for having established this weekend as an annual affair. It is to be hoped that more and more western ex-cadets will take advantage of this opportunity to renew the friendships and mem- ories of their College days. 2859, J. G. Pike NEW LIFE MEMBER fx -38 - At the 1967 Annual Meeting Captain J. M. Grant, RCN, CRet'dj was unanimously elected a life member of the R.M.C. Club of Canada. He was given the Col- lege number H8407, one of the numbers in the series allotted to Royal Roads Military College cadets in 1967. Captain Grant, at that time concerned with the training of young officers for the RCN, was given the iob of organizing the Royal Canadian Naval College in 1942 and was appointed its first Commandant, a position -he held until 1946. To honour the event, the Vancouver Island Branch held 'a meeting at Royal Roads and presented Captain Grant with a plaque. The presentation was made by the Branch President, RCNC 121, CDR. N. S. jackson, a student in Captain Grant's time. Mrs. Grant was presented with a bou- quet of flowers from the Royal Roads gardens.

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No. 1557, Colonel William Reginald Sawyer, OBE, ED, PSC, RMC, MSc., Ph.D. D.Sc., Mil., FCIC. re' fmi' - Col. W. R. Sawyer died in Kingston on 2 Febru- ary, 1968. He had retired from his position as R.M.C.'s Vice Commandant and Director of Studies on 1 Sept- ember, 1967, and was on retirement leave at the time of his death. The whole of the R.M.C. Club, its officers and members eveywhere, offer to his wife Mrs. Margaret E. M. Sawyer, M. A., Ph.D., his daughter -Ioan Cwife of Dr. Gordon Mouldevj, his son, Donald, and his sister Marion fMrs. nl. C. Wallacej their deep sym- pathy in their tragic loss. Reg. Sawyer entered the College from Kingston Collegiate in 1920 and graduated with honours in 1924. He held the rank of CSM, won the Governor-Gen- eral's Bronze Medal, the W. M. Carleton Monk Schol- arship and several other prizes. He played football and hockey, was an excellent rifle and revolver shot, and a first class swimmer. 'He went to Queen's in 1924, obtained h'is B.Sc. with Honours in Chemical Engineering in 1926, and was granted his M.Sc. in 1927. Then followed four years at McGill in teaching and research. He obtained his Ph.D. from McGill in 1931. He was then appointed to the staff of Harvard as an instructor and research assistant. In 1935 he accepted an appointment at R.M.C. in the Department of Physics and Chemistry. Before coming to R.M.C. he had served fourteen months with the Royal Canadian Artillery in the C.E.F. in the First World War. On the outbreak of the Second World War he began his retraining as 'a Com- pany Commander in Queen's C.O.T.C. and in 1942 he was promoted to Major as G.S.O. 2 for the Senior Of- ficer's Course and for the Canadian Army Staff Course, then held at R.M.C. He went overseas in trhe same year and served as G.S.O. 1 C'Chemical Warfarej on headquarters of First Canadian Army in the United Kingdom and later as General Staff Officer CC.W.l throughout the campaign in North-West Europe. He was responsible for the use of smoke, flame warfare and meteorology. He was awarded the O.B.E. for his Services. On his return from overseas 'in 1945 he became Director of Weapons Development and in 1947 was appointed Scientific Consultant to the Department of National Defence. From 1946 to 1950 he was Scienti- fic Advisor to the Atomic Energy Control Board and became a member of the Defence Research Advisory Committees on Chemical NVarfare and Atomic Energy. Together with Dr. W. Crowe, a classmate, Dr. S. H. Dobell, Allan Mitchell, W. H. O'Reilly, Brig. D. G. Cunningham, Brig. D. R. Agnew and other 'ardent ex-cadets he worked strenuously to have R.M.C. re- opened. ln 1947 the government was persuaded to re- open R.M.C. in September, 1948. as a cadet College and Col. Sawyer was appointed Vice Commandant and D'irector of Studies. He also became Professor of Chemistry and head of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. For ten years, with other devoted and dedicated colleagues, he worked with in- tensity and singleness of purpose to acquire a faculty and evolve a curr'iculum that would make R.M.C. not only worthy of its glorious traditions of loyalty and service, but equal in academic quality with the best universities 'in the country. Degree granting powers were obtained from the Ontario Legislature in 1959, retroactive to 19-18. In Arts, in Science, and in Engin- eering, he insisted on high qualifications for the faculty by demanding production of books, papers and learned associations. To him there was no conflict between academic honours and military qualifications. His aim was to ensure that every graduate had the right of way to purposeful high rank in character, learning and leadership abilities. The details of Col. Sawyer's funeral with full mil- itary honours were made by Commodore W. P. Hayes, Commandant of R.M.C. The pallbearers were the 'Commandants of the three College, Commodore Hayes, Col. D. B. Wurtele of Royal Roads and 'Colonel Roland Reid of Le College Militaire Royal de St.-lean, four former Commandants, Lt.-Gen. W. A. B. And- erson, Rear Admiral D. W. Piers, A'ir Commodore L. J. Birchall and Brig. D. R. Agnew, Dr. J. R. Dacey, Col. SaWyer's successor as Director of Studies, Lt. Col. T. F. Gelley, former Registrar and Assistant Director of Studies, Major J. F. Maclaren, the past president of the R.M.C. Club, and two old friends from Queen's, Principal J. A. Corry and Dean G. H. Ettinger. Col. Sawyer's remains were brought from the funeral home to the Sir Arthur Currie Hall on Monday morning, 5 February. Four Gentlemen Cadets of the Senior Year, successively every half hour, provided the guard who stood at the corners of the casket. At two o'clock a private service was conducted by Major the Rev. R. P. Condon, CD, BA, D.Th., the College Protestant Chap- la'in, who spoke words of consolation to Mrs. Sawyer, the family and friends.