News

Regimental Commanding Officers - #11

Lt. Col. William Stillman, O.B.E., E.D.

Today’s Loyal Edmonton Regiment traces its lineage back to the formation of the 101st Regiment in 1908.  Over time there have been many changes in name, organization and taskings.  One interesting thread in all this change is who commanded the regiment.  With this article we continue a series looking at those Commanding Officers.  

William Stillman was the sixth soldier to command The Edmonton Regiment after its formation in 1920 and the 11th in line since the formation of its predecessor the 101st Regiment (Edmonton Fusiliers) in 1908. He served briefly with the 21st Alberta Hussars before joining the 175th Canadian Overseas Infantry Battalion in January 1916.  Once overseas he was transferred to the 21st (Alberta) Reserve Battalion and then to the 31st (Alberta) Battalion fighting in France. In June of 1931 he joined the 1st Battalion, The Edmonton Regiment. In March of 1939 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and was placed in command of the battalion, which he then took overseas in December 1939. In August of 1940 he left the battalion on being appointed Inspector of Accounts, Canadian Military Headquarters, London. For more on this read the article in our latest newsletter at the link below.

Remember 22-1

This is the thirty-first in a series of quarterly newsletters originally recognizing 100th anniversary events of the First World War, with emphasis on Edmonton’s 49th Battalion, and 75th anniversary events of the Second World War, with emphasis on The Edmonton Regiment/The Loyal Edmonton Regiment.  These stories came to an end with our 2019-1 and 2020-3 editions respectively. However, there are still many stories to be told about our regiment, past and present, including our newest series of articles on our regimental commanding officers.  We will also be expanding our focus on the museum itself with articles related to more current events and with stories about some of the interesting artefacts and archival materials in our collection.

Anyone wishing to be included on our email contact list to received copies of our newsletter should email us at lermusm@telus.net.