Remembering the 187th Central Alberta Battalion

On June 16 of that year, “huge numbers of people turned out,” to see former Red Deer mayor turned MLA, Edward Michener, donate the regimental colours to what would be known as the 187th Central Alberta Battalion.

City Historian Michael Dawe said 250 men showed up initially, but that grew to 600 by the end of the summer. The ranks included men not only from Red Deer, but Innisfail, Lacombe, Stettler and Coronation.

“People were saying, ‘Well, this is going to be very, very difficult,’ because they’d pretty much cleaned out the able-bodied people from the community already; but they had tremendous success,” Dawe said.

At the time, Red Deer’s population was around 2,800 and Innisfail sat around 1,000. Therefore, 600 men predominantly from those two communities, and with so many already gone to war, was quite a staggering total.

“There was both real support for the people as they were recruited and got ready to go, but also lots of worry because by this time, people knew the war wasn’t going to be over in a few weeks,” said Dawe.

“They knew the losses of life were very high; and as these young guys or older family men were enlisting to go overseas, there was genuine and well-founded concern that they might never see them again.”

In fact, between 30 and 40 did not return home, while another 90 to 150 were wounded.

A pin of the 187th Central Alberta Battalion. (Supplied/St. Mark’s Anglican Church)

Dawe said once recruiting wrapped up, the battalion trained at the old Red Deer Fairgrounds, located where the Red Deer Arena later stood for many years. The facilities there were ripe with sanitary issues and it wasn’t long before an outbreak of Typhoid fever hit the camp. Two men died from the outbreak.

“There was a concern that if the military authorities decided that the training camp was not up to standards, they would shut it down and there wouldn’t be any training in Red Deer anymore,” Dawe explained, noting the camp was thrown together in a hurry with old livestock barns converted into barracks.

This left the men in cramped conditions in a place normally reserved for cows, pigs and horses.

Led by Lt.-Col. Charles Wilson Robinson of Munson, Alberta, the 187th would finally depart in late autumn, first for Amherst, Nova Scotia and then aboard the RMS Olympic to France. While in Nova Scotia, the group dealt with illness once more as the mumps made the rounds.

Once overseas, the battalion parted ways, never fighting as a complete unit, After all, they were brought together to fill the holes left in different units from prior battles which had resulted in mass casualties.

Some served with Calgary’s 50th Battalion, which fought at Vimy Ridge, soon to transpire in April 1917.

Others wound up fighting at Passchendaele (1917) and at Amiens (1918).

“A man by the name of John Richards from Penhold — he was only 16, just a kid — had come home and told his dad he was going to enlist. His dad thought he was going as the regimental mascot,” recalls Dawe. “He wasn’t; he was in the active lines and he was at the Battle of Vimy Ridge, but he was missing in action for a time. He was later found, though wounded, and saved.”

Dawe said years later, Richards returned to the Vimy Ridge monument and located his name on it.

At the time of engraving, records showed he remained missing in action with no known grave.

Dawe, who has visited Vimy, said it was a shock for Richards all those years later.

Though the 187th never served as a unit, Dawe said one thing is certain.

“They did serve their county and they did serve it heroically.”

The restored 187th Battalion regimental colours are laid up at St. Mark’s Anglican Church in Innisfail. They were rededicated during a special service on June 6, 2010, which was also the 66th anniversary of D-Day.

The regimental colours of the 187th Battalion hang proudly at St. Mark’s Anglican Church in Innisfail, Alberta. (Supplied/St. Mark’s Anglican Church)

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rdnewsNOW would like to thank Michael Dawe, Valerie Miller with the Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery, the Red Deer and District Archives, the City of Red Deer, and St. Mark’s Anglican Church for their contributions to this story.

A list of Remembrance Day ceremonies taking place in central Alberta can be found here.

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by Josh Hall | @Vancan19

Remembering the 187th Central Alberta Battalion

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