Bytown Gunners Order

In September 1855, 30th Field Regiment was formed (as the volunteer Militia Field Battery of the City of Ottawa) to replace British troops withdrawn from the North American colonies to fight in the Crimea. Indeed, 30th Field Regiment is the oldest serving militia unit in Ottawa and the oldest military organization created by the Government of Canada.

30th Field Regiment’s nickname, “The Bytown Gunners,” honors Ottawa, its hometown, which was originally named for its founder, Lieutenant-Colonel John By of the Royal Engineers, builder of the Rideau Canal. The Volunteer Militia Field Battery was soon designated No. 2 Ottawa Field Battery, and this battery number has survived "to this day" (2003).

In 1866 and 1870, the 2nd Field Battery was called out for the Fenian Raids and, at various times during the Victorian era, it served “in aid to the civil power” to quell riots and collect taxes from objecting farmers. The Bytown Gunners also contributed soldiers to the force that fought Riel in 1885, and sent Lieutenant E.W.B (Tiny) Morrison with a two-gun section to the South African War in 1899. Lieut. Morrison and his guns took part in the famous rearguard action of Leliefontein, in which 170 Canadian soldiers routed 750 Boers, suffering 90 percent casualties but also earning three Victoria Crosses and, for Lieut. Morrison, a Distinguished Service Order for bravery.

In the First World War, the Bytown Gunners raised the 1st Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery for the Canadian Expeditionary Force. The Brigade Surgeon, Major John McCrae was serving as an artillery officer in May 1915 when he wrote In Flanders Fields. Maj. McCrae’s comrade-in-arms Lieutenant-Colonel E.W.B. Morrison, DSO, submitted the poem to the British magazine Punch. Morrison, who in civilian life was the Editor-in-Chief of the Ottawa Citizen, was knighted for his outstanding command of all the Canadian artillery on the Western Front and ended the war as Maj-Gen, Sir E.W.B. Morrison, KCMG, CB, DSO.

During the Second World War, the Ottawa Field Brigade produced four batteries for overseas service, of which three saw action. The 25th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery went to the Pacific coast to defend Canada from Japanese invasion. The 2nd Field Battery, the 1st Light Anti-Aircraft Battery and the 51st Anti-Tank Battery went overseas.

The 51st Anti-Tank Battery became part of the 1st Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery, and landed in Sicily as part of Operation Husky in June 1943. They fought through the length and breadth of Italy and, in 1944, took part in the liberation of Venice before moving on to Holland for the final campaign of the war.

The 2nd Field Battery, as part of the 4th Field Regiment, RCA, and the 1st Light Anti-Aircraft Battery, as part of the 6th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RCA, spent the first years of the war in England. The 1st Light Anti-Aircraft Battery joined the defence of London during the Blitz of 1940. Both batteries were part of the D-Day invasion of Normandy; they fought from Caen to the Falaise Gap, and took part in the clearing of the Channel ports, the crossing of the Rhine and the liberation of Holland.

In the breakout from the Normandy beachhead, the 2nd Field Battery fired the Allies’ heaviest concentrations of the war, up to 1000 rounds per gun per day. The 1st Light Anti-Aircraft Battery claimed some of the first downed aircraft of the invasion. It was a Bytown Gunner, Brigadier Stanley Todd, who commanded all the Canadian guns in North-west Europe. Two other famous Bytown Gunners were the late Chief Justice of Canada, Brian Dickson who lost a leg in Normandy and the famous author, George Blackburn, who as a Captain and forward observer, fought through France, Belgium, Holland and on into Germany.

Soldiers from 2nd Field Battery were among the 23 Gunners who took part in the Dieppe Raid on 19 August 1942 and all were killed or captured. One of the prisoners of war escaped, and another finally recovered his helmet in 1973, when he visited a convent where he was confined on the way to Germany. His helmet was officially returned to him by the then Minister of veterans Affairs at a Regimental dinner in 1973 that included 22 of the original (1939) members of 2nd Battery.

In 1946, the four batteries returned to Ottawa and were converted to Field Artillery and amalgamated to form the 30th Field Regiment. Since that time, the Regiment has not been mobilized, but it has contributed troops to many allied and United Nations operations. Today, 2nd and 1st Batteries remain, the other two having been reduced to nil strength and placed on the Supplementary Order of Battle.

The Regiment is affiliated with two army cadet corps; 30th Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery (2317 RCACC) Cadet Corps at Dow’s Lake and 1st Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery (2958 RCACC) Cadet Corps in Manotick.

Bytown Gunners fought in the Korean conflict and have served in operations around the world. Many members of the Regiment have transferred to the Regular component of the Canadian Forces, and many more have served with contingents on NATO and UN service in Bosnia, Africa and other unfortunate places.

The Regiment takes great pride in its operational focus but also in its special ceremonial role as the National Salute Troop, firing salutes for special occasions, visiting heads of state and national periods of remembrance or mourning. Bytown Gunners are often heard on Parliament Hill booming out a traditional artillery salute for the people of Canada.