NEWS RELEASE
11TH FIELD ARTILLERY REGIMENT, RCA
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150 years of Artillery in Guelph
GUELPH – Gunners of the 11th Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery (RCA) celebrated 150 years of Artillery in Guelph by exercising their Freedom of the City in a parade in downtown Guelph Saturday morning.
At the ceremony in front of the Old City Hall, chief of police Jeff DeRuyter accompanied the Commanding Officer of the Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Morley B. Armstrong, CD as His Worship, Mayor Cam Guthrie, welcomed the Regiment to exercise their right to the freedom of the city.
The parade that included 1882 The Wellington Rifles Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps and the Guelph Pipe Band, then proceeded up Wyndham St through the heart of downtown for a march past and salute to the cenotaph on Woolwich St with bayonets fixed, swords drawn, and with their colours, which for the Artillery are their howitzers.
The parade was followed by an open house in the afternoon for the public at the Guelph Armoury, home of 16 and 29 Battery. The Guelph Gunners proudly displayed some of their modern operational equipment including service weapons, GPS and laser equipped binoculars, command post vehicle, and their artillery pieces including the 105mm Howitzer.
From the outset of its first artillery formation, the Wellington Field Battery, in response to the threat of the Fenian Raids in 1866, and continuing on to the Boer War, the Great War, WWII, and the Korean War, Guelph Gunners have faithfully served the guns in the defence of Canada.
Gunners from 11th Field Regiment, RCA, an operational Primary Reserve artillery unit, proudly served throughout the 12 years of various operations in Afghanistan, and most recently, Operation Impact in Iraq.
Going along with Gunner tradition of ‘work hard, play hard’, both current and past members of the Regiment ended the evening with a Castle Gala, a night of entertainment.
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