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If your family member served with the Regina Rifles during the First or Second World War, we’d love to share your stories here on the website!
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Raymond Robert Smith
Lieutenant R.R. Smith briefing soldiers on the D-Day invasion strategy.
Growing up in Theodore, Saskatchewan, Raymond Robert Smith always possessed a strong faith in God. After graduating from high school in 1932, Smith attended Regina College and St. Andrew’s College of Saskatoon, intent on becoming an ordained Minister. In 1933, while attending Regina College, Smith was elected president of the Regina College ‘Boys’ Forum, leading discussions on “topics and special interests of young men.” In 1939, Smith married his wife Fay, and was ordained in 1941.
At the outbreak of the Second World War, Smith enlisted with the Regina Rifles Regiment as a combat soldier because he believed that “somebody from the church had to be not only with the men, but also doing the same job.” On 6 June 1944, Raymond Robert Smith was one of the first men to land on Juno Beach. Though casualties were heavy, Smith’s platoon managed to make it ashore without any opposition. Ten days and fifteen hard-fought miles later, Smith was wounded and sent home, where he trained other soldiers in combat tactics until the end of the Second World War.
Smith recalled that, in the days leading up to the Normandy invasion, church services were held for the Regina Rifles Regiment on board the troopship, Llangilly Castle. He believed that the war created a sort of “religious revival” and remarked that, even though Canadian troops “didn’t wear their faith on their sleeves, their wartime experiences forced them to think of life and death and eternity.” These sentiments were true on the Homefront as well; on 7 June 1944, churches across Regina opened their doors as families and friends waited to hear news of the invasion in Normandy.
After the war, Smith continued to share his faith as he pastored in Lanigan, Elrose, Lloydminster, and Edmonton. In 1966, he was appointed Superintendent of Home Missions and Stewardship Secretary for Manitoba South in Winnipeg. Upon his retirement in 1980, Smith was granted an honorary Doctorate of Divinity from St. Andrew’s College in Saskatoon, earning him the title Reverend Doctor Raymond Robert Smith. Although he was “retired," Smith spent many more years serving in the church and accepted various preaching appointments until the age of 80, when he truly decided to retire. Smith passed away peacefully in 1999.
Rifleman Maurice Nokusis
Maurice Nokusis was born on 21 April 1923 on the the Peepeekisis First Nation’s File Hills Colony. He attended Lebret Indian School until the age of fifteen and then worked as a farm labourer. In January 1942, at the age of eighteen, Maurice travelled to Regina and volunteered to serve overseas as a gunner. His file indicated that he spoke fluently in both English and Cree.
Within a month of his enlistment, Maurice contracted the measles and spent fourteen days in hospital. When he recovered, he was transferred to Nova Scotia to train as a gunner with the 23rd Field Regiment—part of the 4th Canadian Armoured Division. After a period of training in Canada, Maurice was deployed overseas in June 1943 and was assigned to the Regina Rifles Regiment to train for the invasion of Normandy.
Maurice stormed Juno Beach on D-Day and pushed inland with the Regiment until he was killed in action on 8 July 1944 during the battles for Carpiquet and Caen—battles that drew more casualties than D-Day. The Regina Rifles lost more than 200 of their men out of a strength of less than 500. Maurice had just turned twenty-one. For his valour, he earned the 1939-45 Star, France-Germany Star, Defense Medal, War Medal, and the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal with Clasp. Maurice was buried in the Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery alongside many Canadians who gave their lives in the landings in Normandy. A memorial service was held for Maurice at the Roman Catholic Church in Lebret on 14 May 1945.
Charles Bird
Charles Bird of the Peepeekisis First Nation enlisted with the Regina Rifles Regiment in 1941 because “he wanted to see more of the world and help Canada.” Prior to enlistment he had attended Residential School and taken up farming on the reserve. Charles’ father had served in the First World War, and when his family heard that war had been declared again, he and his brothers signed up. While in the military, Charles formed close friendships with his fellow brothers-in-arms that continued long after the war ended.
Charles landed with the first wave of Regina Rifles on Juno Beach during the Normandy invasion of 6 June 1944. He was responsible for working with his partner to carry a ladder off the boat that was to be used to scale cliffs on the beach, but when they landed, his partner was killed instantly. Charles was forced to drop the ladder and run. In a harrowing journey from the sea to the land, the wooden stock of Charles’s gun was destroyed, and he grabbed a gun from another dead soldier and “moved on.” During the invasion, Charles suffered bullet wounds to the foot, leg, and shoulder. The shrapnel embedded in his foot remained lodged there until his death in 2009.
Charles Bird was captured as a prisoner of war during the Normandy campaign and was released when Holland was liberated in May of 1945. After the surrender of the Axis forces, Charles returned to Saskatchewan and married Rita Bird in 1956. He later worked as a labourer in Regina’s Molson brewery, where he enjoyed the jaunty working-atmosphere. Although Charles was humble, quiet, and did not speak of his suffering in the war. Instead, he preferred to tell his six children about the positive memories from his service abroad, such as the Christmas lights in London. When he passed away in 2009 at the age of 89, he was the last surviving Canadian First Nations soldier who stormed Juno Beach.
Harvey Dreaver
Harvey Dreaver of the Mistawasis First Nation enlisted with the Regina Rifles Regiment in June 1940 to “do his part.” His father, Chief Joe Dreaver had been awarded the Military Medal for his contributions in many major battles during the First World War, and enlisted again in the Second World War as a Sergeant in the Veterans’ Guard of Canada. Harvey, along with two brothers and two sisters signed up alongside their father in 1940. Notably, Harvey was the great-great grandson of Chief Mistawasis who signed Treaty No. 6 at Fort Carlton in 1876.
Growing up, Harvey was a skilled athlete. He was educated in Brandon, Manitoba, graduating with his qualified auto-mechanic diploma in 1934. Ultimately, he returned home and became a wheat farmer in order to live close to family. However, when the Second World War broke out, Chief Dreaver drove all the men of military age in his band—fourteen in total—to Saskatoon to enlist. Harvey joined the Regina Rifles and quickly moved up the ranks from Rifleman to Lieutenant to Sergeant and was made Section Leader of D Company when the Regina Rifles landed in Normandy on D-Day. During the invasion, his men were pinned down by fortifications in front of Courseulles-Sur-Mer, and of the 120 men in D Company, only 49 made it to shore.
Harvey fought in many of the major battles in Normandy, pushing inland until he was killed in action during the battle of the Leopold Canal on 6 October 1944 at the age of 28. He left behind a wife and young daughter on the Mistawasis reserve. His courage and valour earned him many military medals, including the 1939-45 Star, France-Germany Star, Defense Medal, War Medal, and the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal with Clasp. The Belgian government also awarded him the Belgian Croix de Guerre 1940 avec Palme. Harvey is buried at the Adegem Canadian War Cemetery in Belgium, where many of the men who died during the operation at Leopold Canal have been laid to rest.
Edwin Owen Worden
Edwin Owen Worden was a truck driver from Broadview, Saskatchewan when he enlisted with the Regina Rifles in June 1940. While overseas, he met Miss Lily Gladwin of Kemp Town, Brighton, Sussex. They had a whirlwind romance and were married on 21 January 1944, only five months before Edwin was sent over to Normandy on D-Day in the first wave. He wrote his wife a letter on 5 June, the night before he landed on Juno Beach.
Edwin survived the D-Day landings and pushed inland until he was killed in action on 6 April 1945 during the liberation of Holland. He left behind his wife and a son he would never meet.
Mrs Worden visits her husband’s grave in Holland with their son, Donald.
Major Hector “Hec” Jones
Cook, the Regina Leader Post War Correspondent, caught up with Hector Jones, or “Jonesey” as people fondly called him, shortly after D-Day. While the correspondent noted that, “There’s a story, too, from just about every Regina Rifleman who survived,” he wanted to start with Hector Jones because “he [was] an old-established citizen of Regina who has been cooking with gas for so long we’ll take his version of what happened to other fellows as the real McCoy. Also because Captain Jones, with 20 of his men, literally flew ashore on the tail of a tank.”
Jonesey led Dog Company as they started in through the mine strewn waters of Courseuelles 10 min after Charlie company. D Coy started with 116 men, but only 49 made it to shore.
“We were 200 yards behind Charlie company and waves were so high we couldn’t see mines stuck on end of jagged obstacles,” recalled Hec. “Then three of our craft hit mines and blew up. Our own craft went smack into obstacles and we struck there. A Royal Naval officer jumped out and took a look and decided we couldn’t get forward. He got us to shift our weight and we got the damaged craft off and made for a stranded tank craft about 300 or 400 yards off shore. He got us on that craft and then with it he kept combing water for men floating around. We must have picked up 40 that way. Jack Garner had gotten 17 platoon ashore almost intact and Dick Roberts had one section of No. 16 on the beach, but most of us were stuck there on the tank craft, soaked to hide, cold and numb with half our equipment gone. Finally we found a tank near the shore and managed to get a long rope tied to it. The water was deep and cold but the idea was to use this rope as a life line, m first of all hauling some of us to shore. Then with the other end tied to the tank craft, the remaining fellows could work their way hand-over-hand to shore. Somebody forgot to tie the rope at the other end,” laughed Jones. “So when the tank started up there was a terrific yank and we were hauled through the waves and nearly half drowned. But 20 of us got ashore. When we got there I found Garner and Roberts and their men and we reorganized.”
Captain Gordon Baird remembers “I have a very clear impression of seeing Jonesey grinning and looking a good deal like a drowned cat, except that he came running up to the C.O. on the double, exchanged about two words, and yelled to his men. Then they went tearing away into enemy country, and we never saw him again until we found remnants of Dog company in Reviers, where they had been sitting on their objective for some time. I would say that Jonesey never stopped running.”
“Well, we were just doing what Jack Love told us to do, said Jones, who commanded the company in that phase. “By that time had only one rifle to four men and though there were two Brews in the whole company neither could be sed. But they had to move, regardless of what other companies had on their hands in the town. Night before, Jack Love had said, “Go get those bridges in Reviers. That is the company’s job, and if there is only one man left he is to go sit on each one of these three bridges alternately.” So Jones and Roberts and Garner and Jacobs moved with their men, with only one in the four armed. But they had some 75 grenades and when they would come to a Nazi line box, a concrete position, they’d toss in a grenade. The Germans wouldn’t come out. They kept knowing over bocce in little bunches like that, but moving all the time. At one place they got 14 prisoners. They encountered a mine field and had to go around it. Then they teamed up with a platoon led by Lieut. Ray Smith of Winnipeg. Sgt. Jacobs himself went out and blew a line box with six Germans in the west end of Reviers. On one bridge they ran into a boche truck and fired shots into the radiator, captured the crew, two machine guns, and enough rifles and ammo to last them for some days.
“We use that truck all day,” said Jonesey, and then added, “Say, did I tell you how that guy on the beach battered through with a bulldozer under fire and knocked holes in the sea wall so we could get carriers through? Gordon Brown from Manor, our transport officer, got through one of those holes and brought up our first carriers to Reviers. I think the sapper who was driving that bulldozer was that Johnny Duval you’ve been writing about, fellow who won the Military Medal. Well, that was a good show, and that is a short summary of one day’s work.”
Jonesey went on to assist with the liberation of Caen, the recapture of the Abbaye D’Ardenne, and was eventually killed during the battle at the Leopold Canal on October 9, 1944.
Lieutenant Edward Allan Smith
Lieutenant Allan Edward Smith enlisted in the military in August 1941 as a twenty-four year old student minister. Having earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree at the University of Saskatchewan, followed by studies in Theology at St. Andrews College, Smith was commissioned as a member of the University of Regina’s Canadian Officers Training Corps. Smith excelled in athletics, winning the inter-provincial diving championship at the age of sixteen. He also played the violin and piano, and was an enthusiastic singer. Learning that he might be sent overseas in the upcoming months, he married his sweetheart, Ivy, on Christmas Day, 1941, and embarked for England in May of 1942. That same month, the two conceived a child, and little Ivy Gae Smith was born in January 1943, while her father was overseas. “Conscientious, strong and aggressive,” his military records recorded that Smith was “a promising young man who should do well with experience.”
Smith was transferred to the Regina Rifle Regiment in July 1942 and, while he was not part of the initial D-Day landings on 6 June 1944, he disembarked on French soil ten days later, on 16 June 1944 as part of a reinforcement unit. After eleven days of intense fighting, the Rifles had withdrawn a few kilometres behind the front lines to the village of Bray to rest. This is where replacements arrived, and by 1 July, the Rifles were back at full strength. They sent out nightly patrols to probe the enemy’s defences along the railway line overlooking Carpiquet, aiding the British in their attempt to encircle Caen from the west. Thus, they had front row seats when Carpiquet village was captured on 4 July at a terrible cost. The next day, the Rifles were given orders on their role in Operation Charnwood - an all out assault on the city of Caen.
The Regina Rifles were given the task of capturing the Abbaye D’Ardenne, which was being used by the 12th SS Panzer Regiment as a headquarters. The Abbaye was heavily defended with mortars, machine guns, and 75mm guns. This was the worst fighting the Rifles had experienced since D-Day, with 216 casualties out of a strength of less than 500, during its capture and ultimate victory. This was a more costly victory than D-Day and reminded observers of battles in the First World War. It was during this battle that Lieutenant Allan Edward Smith was killed in action on 8 July 1944.
Smith received the 1939-45 Star, the France and Germany Star, the Defence Medal, the War Medal, and the CVSM & Clasp posthumously. He is buried in the Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery along with many Canadians who gave their lives in the landings in Normandy.
John Brackenridge Semple 1894-1964
John Brackenridge Semple was born in Strathaven, Lanarshire, Scotland and moved to Canada in his late teens to work for a farmer in Abernathy, Saskatchewan. He worked the land in the summer and helped farmers in the area with their chores during the cold, winter months. Within two years of moving to Canada, the First World War erupted and John enlisted in the 10th Field Company of the Canadian Mounted Rifles. When he was sent overseas, the Cavalry was disbanded and he was transferred to the Canadian Engineers.
Engineer units provided communications support, built bridges and roads, laid railroad tracks, participated in trench raids, acted as signal and telegraph operators, and ensured that troop and supply channels remained open. They tunneled under German lines to place mined charges and ensured that troops had access to a water supply. The Canadian Engineers participated in most major Canadian defensive and offensive operations, including the battles of Ypres, St. Julien, Vimy Ridge, Messines Ridge, Menin Road, Polygon Wood and Passchendaele.
John saw action with the Canadian Engineers at Vimy Ridge and returned to Regina, Saskatchewan in 1919 as a decorated veteran. Taking up land under the Soldiers Settlement System, he settled 29 miles Northeast of Regina. The first years were hard, but he managed to buy a team of horses and a wagon and built a small house. To John, it seemed wonderful to come back to such a peaceful existence, without shells landing around him on the battlefield. The land could be his through hard work, but there was no longer anything to fear.
The Terry Brothers
William Terry volunteered for service in the army on 11 January 1943 and was recommended as a dispatch rider on operational duty with the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps (RCOC) because of his previous experience as a mechanic. The RCOC was tasked with supplying advancing troops with equipment, ammunition, and vehicles. They also repaired any military equipment that broke down (tanks, trucks, jeeps, motorcycles, searchlights, signals equipment, etc.), following troops into France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Africa, and Italy. They worked around land mines, fire, bombs, artillery, and through snow, rain, and mud. It was dangerous work and many men lost their lives.
William Terry was placed in the RCOC as a Motorcycle Dispatch Rider, which required specialized training. As the pace of war sped up and units travelled further into enemy territory, pushing the Axis powers back, the motorcyclist became more important than ever before. Roads were often blown up as enemy troops retreated as one last act of sabotage to keep the Allies from advancing and receiving supplies. Motorcycles were able to get through places that were impassible, allowing riders to deliver key information much quicker than a runner could. Of course, this was vulnerable and isolating work. Men worked alone, motivated by the urgency to deliver crucial information that could save lives if received in time.
William and his motorcycle landed in Italy on 24 January 1945. In March, he was in France, and remained in Northwestern Europe, working as a Dispatch Rider until Victory was declared and the war ended. In total, he spent 22 months in the UK, Italy, France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany. He returned home with the Regina Rifles in July 1945.
William Terry, Image courtesy of Dennis Terry.
George Terry, Image courtesy of Dennis Terry.
William’s older brother, George Terry, also served with the Regina Rifles during the Second World War. He stormed the beaches of Normandy as a medic and spend that fateful day crouching low and tending to his wounded comrades. On D-Day, Canadian medics charged to shore, equipped with just a medical kit and bandages, ready to treat their men. Unarmed, their only protection was a red cross band on each arm and a helmet with a red cross to mark them as protected under the Geneva Convention. Their job was to stabilize a wounded man, stop bleeding, apply dressings, administer morphine and prepare them for evacuation to a field hospital where they could receive more advanced treatment. Evacuation of the wounded was sometimes nearly impossible, and many were treated and left where they had fallen. Some of these men had never received medical training prior to their enlistment and were trained from scratch. Many of these medics were highly decorated for their bravery and commitment.
After the Second World War, George also saw military service in the Korean War, where he said that the fighting was bitter. George eventually settled in Moose Jaw and became involved in the Royal Canadian Legion there, assisting veterans in their fight for benefits. He was also involved with Senior Citizens Action Now, fighting to improve the living conditions of senior citizens in Moose Jaw. For his service in the military and later, in his civilian life, George received the Order of Canada, and is the most decorated Indigenous person in Saskatchewan. George Roderick Terry passed away on February 8, 2009. He is buried in the Field of Honour along with his military comrades in Moose Jaw’s cemetery.
George Price
George Price moved to Saskatchewan in 1917 and worked as a farm labourer near Moose Jaw. However, soon after arriving, he found himself in trouble with the law and was given the choice to spend time in jail or enlist in the Canadian Army. He chose the Army and began training in Regina. By May 1918, he had joined the battalion in Europe and in September, was wounded in a gas attack in the Canal-du-Nord area of France.
After rest and recuperation, Pte. Price returned to his unit. By the early morning hours of 11 November 1918, news of a cease-fire was received by the Battalion headquarters. The Great War would end at 11 am. All units, including the 28th were to continue advancing until precisely that time. Pte. Price and “A” Company moved through the village of Havre and charged towards what was known as the Canal du Centre. As the battalion moved into the area, a German machine gun fired from across the Canal. Pte. Price, and three other enlisted men crossed the canal to investigate. At 10:58 am, a single shot hit Pte. Price. He was the last Allied soldier to die in the First World War.
Orville Fisher - Official War Artist
Orville Fisher was an artist living in the Vancouver area in the 1930s working largely as a painter of murals for buildings and churches. However, he had always been inspired by the work of war artists in the First World War, and when the Second World War broke out in 1939, Fisher was determined to make use of his artistic skills overseas. By 1943, he had been given the title of “Official War Artist” by the Canadian War Artists' Control Committee in Ottawa.
In 1944, Fisher was informed that he would be taking part in a major invasion by sea and was asked to begin thinking about how to document such an event. While D-Day proceedings were top-secret, Fisher was told that he would be racing up a beach from a landing craft and to prepare accordingly. Fisher decided that his best strategy would be to strap tiny waterproof pads of paper to his wrist and make rapid, on-the-spot sketches of the battle as it unfolded.
On 6 June 1944 Orville Fisher landed at Courseulles-sur-Mer, charging up Juno beach in the first wave. He was the only Allied War Artist to land in Normandy on D-Day. Fisher frantically sketched the proceedings as he watched the carnage unfold around him. Later, he created large watercolour paintings, using his sketches and the images that were almost certainly imprinted in his mind.
Fisher pushed on with the Allies, painting the landing at Juno Beach, the battle at Carpiquet Airfield, and the advancement into Caen. Unlike many other war artists who recreated images of the battlefields many years after the event, Fisher’s paintings were unusually raw and fresh. His painting, D-Day: The Assault, now hangs in the Royal Regina Rifles Armoury.