Ashbury College - Ashburian Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

Page 22 text:

20 THE ASHBURIAN Major H. J. Woods, M.B.E., the R.C.R. (Retired) joined the school staff as physical director and cadet instructor and supervised the organization parades which resulted in the following slate of officers: — Commanding. Cadet Major J. C. M. Hooper; 2nd i|c., Cadet Capt. P. W. E. Richardson; Adjutant, Cadet Lieut. D. Fair; No. 1 Platoon, Cadet Lieut. G. Read; No. 2, Platoon Cadet Lieut. P. Breithaupt; No. 3 Platoon. Cadet Lieut. I. Elliott; Supy. Pin. Cmdr., Cadet Lieut. L MacGregor; C.SM., J. F. Smith and C.Q.M.S., E. Castello. The junior corps was organized as a separate unit on the same three platoon basis with platoon leaders only and was placed under the charge of Mr. Pilgrim who supervised all its training during the year. Training in the senior corps started in earnest on Sept. 26th and to ascertain the capabilities of the corps Major Woods took complete charge of all activities for the first few parades after which Coy. Pin. and Sec. Cmdrs. were placed in complete charge of their own commands under the supervision and guidance of the instructor. Instruction was given in weapon training, company, platoon and section drill, rifle firing, saluting, map reading, first aid, march dis- cipline, rifle exercises, Morse and semaphore signalling, physical training, knots erul lashings, route marching, range firing, care and cleaning of the rifle and rifle coaching . Informative lecturcttes were inserted into the training pro- gramme here and there and questionnaires frequently held by Pin. Cmdrs. proved quite helpful and instructive. An attempt was made to organize a bugle band but as no quali- fied instructor was available it was decided to disband for the winter months in the hope that a better chance would be afforded in the spring and the instruments were locked away in November. Our hopes in this respect however were not realized and no fur- ther attempt at band training was made. A signal section was formed for Morse training with H. Bulpit, a trained R.C.N, telegraphist, appointed as instructor and succeed- ed in attaining a high standard of efficiency.

Page 21 text:

THE ASHBURIAN CADET CORPS rpHE system in Cadet Corps training this year was entirely dif- ferent from that followed in the past in that all cadet train- ing was done at the one time viz.: two hours every Thursday after- noon as opposed to class periods all through the week. This change, like all changes and innovations had its advantages and disadvantages. Chief among the advantages were: (a) the cadets were able to parade in full uniform and boots without caus- ing undue wear and tear both on clothing and on halls and stair- cases; (b) the corps learned to work together as a unit constantly and (c) the academic syllabus was not unduly interfered with. The principal disadvantage was in not being able to give the same detailed attention and instruction to a very large class as was possible with a succession of small classes. But this did not prove to be too great an obstacle to overcome due to the excellent help afforded the corps instructor by Mr. Pilgrim, the corps officers and W. O. ' s and H. Bulpit and C. Brown. There seems to be no doubt that the system in use is the best possible and that it will continue to be used. The cadet year started on Sept. 12th, 1945, with a parade for organization, taking of platoon and section rolls and issuing of uniforms and rifles. Here another drastic change was made in that the corps which had been operating as a battalion of three coys, in previous years was formed as a company of three platoons, each of three sections and in view of the actual strength in numbers this was a far more satisfactory and suitable basis.

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THE ASHBURIAN 21 Similarly a first aid team of three stretcher crews was organ- ized and progressed excellently under the tuition of Cadet C. Brown, a qualified First Aider . Our first appearance in public was participation in the Ninth Victory Loan Parade March Past on the 2nd of November, 1945, when No. 137 Ashbury College Cadet Corps alone represented the cadet movement in Canada at ceremonies in front of the National War Memorial in Ottawa, and did an excellent job for which we received congratulations from National Defence Headquarters. Shortly afterwards winter closed in on us and placed a severe strain on training generally, due to lack of sufficient room but with co-operative work on the part of the corps and the exercise of much ingenuity on the part of the commanding staff this obstacle, the worst of all, was taken in stride and no break or loss occurred in training. Various allied subjects were taken up and absorbed so that when the weather cleared again we were ready to start pre- parations for the final inspection in May. Unfortunately the Ashburian had to go to press before the final inspection so that a full report on same will not be available until Christmas but as an alternative the following brief outline will give the proposed programme: General salute and inspection in line. March past by platoons. March past in column of route. Advance in review order and general salute. Coy. platoon and section drill. Squad work in Morse and semaphore signalling. Map reading, knots and lashings, aiming instruction, rifle exer- cises, first aid, etc. Massed physical training. Gymnastic display on horse, parallel bars and mats. Tableaux by whole corps — senior and junior. Final address by inspecting officer and presentation of Platoon Cup.