Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps

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Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps
Corps royal canadien des munitions
transportation, human resource management, finance, and food services, movements, postal, and ammunition
SizeCorps
Garrison/HQMontreal
Motto(s)Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense (French, "Shame to Him Who Thinks Evil of It"; from the motto of the Order of the Garter)
MarchThe Village Blacksmith

The Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps (RCOC; French: Corps royal canadien des munitions, CRCM) was an administrative corps of the Canadian Army. The Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps RCOC can trace its roots back to the Canadian Stores Department. Formed in 1871, the Canadian Stores Department was a civil department of the Canadian Government. This civil service was charged with control of forts, ammunition, stores, buildings and an ordnance depot left by the departing British Military.

On 1 July 1903 the responsibilities of the Canadian Stores Department were transferred to the Ordnance Stores Corps. In 1907 it was renamed the Canadian Ordnance Corps (COC).[1][2]

World War I

Grave in Cathays Cemetery, Cardiff of Sgt W Norval, who died in September 1920

In the First World War the COC, in conjunction with the

King George V authorized the “Royal” designation.[1]

World War II

The Militia component of the now-Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps was not authorized until 1912, and redesignated with the Royal prefix in 1936 (probably on 29 April 1936).[3]

During the

Second World War, the corps had a strength of 35,000 military personnel, not including the thousands of civilian personnel employed at corps installations. They procured all the material goods required by the Army, from clothing to weapons. Up until 1944, the RCOC was responsible for maintenance and repair. Ordnance Field Parks, that held and stored everything from spare parts to spare artillery, supported field formation including the divisions and I and II Canadian Corps.[1]

Post-war

The Canadian Ordnance Corps was redesignated The Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps on 22 March 1948. It reverted to the previous name on 18 April 1955.

Cobourg, Ontario dedicated to the personnel who served as part of 26 Central Ordnance Depot, Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps consists of a large depiction of the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps badge.[5]

Unification

When the Army,

Canadian Forces, the administrative Corps of the Army were deactivated and merged with their Naval and Air Force counterparts to form the Canadian Forces' personnel branches
.

The Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps was combined with the transport and supply elements of the

Logistics Branch
.

Traditions

Colonel-in-chief

George VI
have all served as previous colonels-in-chief of the corps.

Motto

King George VI granted the RCE the same mottoes as the Royal Army Service Corps, which was one of its British equivalents. Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense (French, "Shame to Him Who Thinks Evil of It") was the motto used since 1937. It originated from the era of the inception of the Order of the Garter, an order of chivalry which was the original user of this motto. The motto is also used by the Grenadier Guards, the Royal Army Service Corps, the Royal Australian Army Service Corps, and the Hauraki Regiment.

Royal designation

The Canadian Ordnance Corps was redesignated the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps on 3 Nov 1919. As a matter of honour,

Canadian monarch bestowed on the organization the right to use the prefix royal before its name.[4]

Badge

The badge of the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps consists of a belt, with a Kings Crown on top, with the text "Honi Soit qui mal y pense" with six maple leaves around the edge. At the center of the belt is a shield superimposed with three cannonballs and three cannons. At the bottom the text "Royal Canadian Army Service Corps" is written on a ribbon.[1]

Band

The RCOC maintained a

D-Day landings, during which the director of music recalled that "we were mobbed by the troops particularly after we played the Colonel Bogey March which everyone enjoyed".[7] In 1958, the band took part in a concert with American composer Morton Gould, who conducted the band which was standing directly on the Canada–United States border.[8] In September 1959, the band performed the Vice-Regal Salute for Georges Vanier during his swearing-in as Governor General of Canada in Ottawa.[9] In 1967, the band was one of 17 Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Navy, and Royal Canadian Air Force to take part in the Canadian Armed Forces Tattoo 1967 in honor of Canada's centennial year celebrations.[10][11]

RCOC Association

The Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps Association was a Defence Association authorized on 9 March 1945 and was recognized by the Conference of Defence Associations in early 1946. It was established as many senior RCOC officers recognized the desire for a post-World War association for former officers who had served in the RCOC and had no intent on continuing in the regular force. Its constitution was adopted on 20 April 1948 and Major General J. H. McQueen was elected as its first president.[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Rannie, William F (1984). To the Thunderer, His Arms The Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps. Lincoln, ON: self-published.[page needed]
  2. ^ "Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps". 20 November 2007. Archived from the original on 20 November 2007. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  3. ^ "Units of the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps in the Second World War".
  4. ^
    Queen's Printer. 1964.[page needed
    ]
  5. ^ Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps memorial
  6. ^ Gilles Potvin. "Gérald Gagnier". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  7. ^ Kopstein, Jack. "A Job Well Done". World Military Bands. Archived from the original on 8 September 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  8. .
  9. ^ https://diefenbaker.usask.ca/documents/the-crown-in-canada/vanier_swearing_in.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjn3s_UgtXmAhUPIKwKHd9FB_o4KBAWMAJ6BAgIEAE&usg=AOvVaw04FB4PppYoZMeFLv-hAJCf [dead link]
  10. .
  11. ^ "The Minute Book".
  12. ^ https://www.canadiansoldiers.com/organization/veteransorganizations/royalcanadianordnancecorpsassociation.htm