Brief history of the West Nova Scotia Regiment

Dear Editor:



There has been a memorial constructed at Aldershot and anyone in the area should visit it.

It was dedicated in May in memory of 344 West Novas who made the supreme sacrifice in World War II.

The West Nova Regiment started recruiting in September 1939 at Annapolis Royal, about half the recruits came from the Annapolis Valley, Windsor to Digby. Then there were some from Yarmouth, the South Shore and a few from P.E.I. On December 21, the regiment boarded an ocean liner in Halifax for a 10-day voyage across the submarine infested North Atlantic. As we left Halifax in a blizzard, the attitude on board was as if we were on a pleasure cruise. Many of these young lads would never see Canada again.

We were stationed in England, not far from London, during intensive training in 1940. We witnessed the Battle of Britain as it raged in the sky overhead. On July 10, 1943 we hit the island of Sicily, our first combat, and captured the island in 38 days. Then the assault on the mainland began. As we advanced north, our casualties began to mount. On the 20th of December our attacks started on Ortona, which lasted five days. The city fell as the enemy surrendered on Christmas Day.

The West Nova Regiment at full strength was 980 officers and men, but was reduced at Orton to 156. In February of 1945 we moved to the western front and joined the rest of the Canadian Army involved there.

In 19 months of combat, the West Novas won 25 battle honors, more than any other infantry regiment from Canada. It looks like only a handful of the originals are still around. Two or three on the South Shore, the same in Yarmouth and P.E.I., and only two in the Annapolis Valley; one from Kentville and one in Deep Brook.



Oren Foster, B.E.M.

Deep Brook