The Icelandic connection - 01.12.2020, Blaðsíða 29

Vol. 71 #4
ICELANDIC CONNECTION
171
the children in general. The camp
was eventually sold in the late
1920’s to the Lakeside Fresh Air
Camp for children, an organization
registered under the Companies
Act May 1921, as a charitable
association which opened its doors
to underprivileged children and
senior citizens. Waning interest
and the high cost of maintaining
the facilities in the late 1960s
eventually resulted in its sale to
the province of Manitoba in 1971
who eventually turned it into a
provincial Park.
When the Canadian Militia
had to mobilize a large armed force
to participate in the Great War in
Europe, they created the Canadian
Expeditionary Force (CEF). Over
424,000 Canadian soldiers went
overseas to fight in the CEF from
1914 to 1918. The CEF consisted
of 4 Infantry Divisions in 1914
with approximately 10,000 to
15,000 men in each division. A
division consisted of 3 brigades
with 4 battalions per brigade. A
battalion had four companies and
each company had 4 platoons.
The infantry component of the
CEF was organized into numbered
battalions, which often acquired secondary
titles like the 144th Battalion (Winnipeg
Rifles). In 1916, at full strength, an infantry
battalion consisted of 35 officers and 977
other ranks commanded by a lieutenant
colonel.
An infantry battalion was divided into
four rifle companies, which were numbered
1 through 4, or designated A through D,
depending on the unit. A company had
5 officers and 240 men and a platoon
about 40 men. Initially, the company was
mainly used in tactical maneuvers, but as
small arms firepower increased, individual
units now saw greater tactical use, such as
machine gun units.
As the war progressed over the years,
the CEF acquired a total of 262 numbered
and named battalions. A battalion
and a regiment are often confused in
terminology, but in actual fact are very
similar, where a regiment is more of an
administrative entity in peacetime with its
own distinctive name, insignia, traditions
and customs and a battalion is a tactical
entity in wartime.
Christopher Patrick John O’Kelly was
born on November 18th. 1895, the only