January 19, 2023
Last Updated on: February 19, 2023
The preserved First World War battlefield at the Vimy Ridge Memorial Park has, with some exceptions, been left largely untouched, leaving with it many practical dangers of a real battlefield. In July 2022, Joe McDonald, museum volunteer, had the opportunity go into the dangerous Red Zone to view some of the significant locations pertaining to the part played by the 49th Battalion (Edmonton Regiment) in the Battle of Vimy Ridge. Here is his comparison of the area then and now and the story of what happened there.
December 15, 2022
Last Updated on: February 19, 2023
Brigadier James Curry Jefferson, C.B.E., D.S.O. and Bar, C.D.G., E.D.
Our series of articles on Regimental Commanding Officers continues with the ninth CO of the 1st Battalion, The Edmonton Regiment, Brigadier James Curry Jefferson, C.B.E., D.S.O. and Bar, C.D.G., E.D. He led the Second World War overseas battalion through Sicily and Italy, including the battle of Ortona, and ended the war commanding the 10th Infantry Brigade, 4th Canadian Armoured Division.
March 16, 2020
Last Updated on: February 19, 2023
The Loyal Edmonton Regiment Military Museum galleries are open to the public but with some restrictions.
October 13, 2016
Last Updated on: February 19, 2023
The LER Museum will be open on November 11 for Remembrance Day.
September 8, 2022
Last Updated on: December 28, 2022
The Other Lost Fortyniner of Avion
The finding of remains of First World War soldiers on former battlefields is both remarkable yet familiar to those in Europe who live on what once was the Western Front. Especially in the Artois region of France, where new urban development projects, on ground once heavily fought over by Canadians in 1917, promise the unearthing of grim reminders of that past war. The discovery of Corporal Gordon Gregory Dunning’s remains in 1953 is one example.
September 8, 2022
Last Updated on: December 15, 2022
Major-General George Kitching, C.B.E., D.S.O., O.St.J., C.D.
Our series of articles on Regimental Commanding Officers continues with the eighth CO of the 1st Battalion, The Edmonton Regiment, Major-General George Kitching, C.B.E., D.S.O., O.St.J., C.D. (1942). His period as Commanding Officer was short, but his service before and especially after is worth looking at.
July 11, 2022
Last Updated on: September 8, 2022
The Unknown 49th Battalion Officers of Courcelette
At the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, in September of 1916, the 49th Battalion had 59 members reported Killed in Action. As was too often the case, some bodies could not be identified and now lie in graves simply marked as a ‘Soldier of the Great War’. Two such examples exist in the ADANAC Cemetery in France where two 49th Battalion officers, who fell during the action at Courcelette, are buried in unidentified graves. The author of this article believes he can identify these two officers.
July 11, 2022
Last Updated on: September 8, 2022
Colonel Ernest Brown Wilson, O.B.E., E.D.
Our series of articles on Regimental Commanding Officers continues with the seventh CO of the 1st Battalion, The Edmonton Regiment, Colonel Ernest Brown Wilson, O.B.E., E.D. (1940-1942). He had served with the battalion since 1928 and, following his period as Commanding Officer, had several appointments as acting brigade commander as well as senior appointments at division and higher headquarters.
March 6, 2022
Last Updated on: July 11, 2022
Two Edmonton Originals in the 1885 Rebellion
The Edmonton area’s first experience of the army came during the North-West Rebellion of 1885 when the Alberta Field Force, tasked to put down the rebellion, came through the settlement. Two of the early residents, William Fielders and William West, joined Steele’s Scouts, the “eyes and ears” of the force, formed by Inspector Sam Steele of the NWMP. In the photo of three Canadians in South Africa during the Boar War, Fielders is in the front.
March 2, 2022
Last Updated on: July 11, 2022
Lt. Col. William Stillman, O.B.E., E.D.
Our series of articles on Regimental Commanding Officers continues with the sixth CO of the 1st Battalion, The Edmonton Regiment, Lt. Col. William Stillman, O.B.E., E.D. (1939-1940). He had served as an infantry officer during the First World War and, as Commanding Officer, took the 1st Battalion, The Edmonton Regiment, overseas in December 1939.