The Westminster War Diary was first published
in 1964 by Major Oldfield and was produced in hard cover. The book is an
unofficial history of The Westminster Regiment (Motor) in World War II.
On October 26 2006, Jim Oldfield gave permission to have his book
scanned and made available on the internet. We hope you enjoy this
account of the Regiment in WWII.
The names of those that served in the
Regiment! This is an very large and grueling task to include every name
of every soldier that served in this Regiment. For example in WWII,
soldiers came and went on a daily basis from the unit. Some left and
returned to the unit several times. Looking through the actual 'Secret'
War Diary from WWII, hundreds of names appear on daily lists of soldiers
Taken On Strength (TOS). It will take hours to look through each page,
cross check it with actual lists in order to come up with an accurate
list of all that served with the Regiment during WWII. It is thought
some 5000 men passed through the ranks of the unit from the time it was
mobilized to its return to Canada at the end of the war. The two lists
below represent about half at around 2300 names. All efforts will be
made to collect names and add them to this web site. Soon to be included
on this site will be the Roll of Honour for both WWI and WWII. The Roll
of Honour for WWII is above.
New - 24 June
2007
More Names for World War
II
The name list of soldiers of The Westminster
Regiment (MG) was taken from the 2nd Battalion Part II Order # 9 dated
24 August 1940 and #28 dated 21st October 1940 from The Drill Hall, New
Westminster. These particular Part II Orders were especially important
because on order #9 it listed all the Officer's. On order #28 it listed
all the soldiers as they were issued their new Regimental numbers. The
2nd Battalion was based at the barracks located at where the New
Westminster high school is now located. This battalion was also part of
the Non-Permanent Active Militia. There are 777 names on this
list.
To view the
list, click here.
To view a combined list of the above
list and the list from below, click here.
Please note, there may be some duplications on
the combined list.
Another name list is being worked on at this
present time. These names are from a Supernumerary list established in
November 1940. As well, there are many names of soldiers who joined the
regiment after it left New Westminster. Further to that, names are being
researched from the Royal Canadian Legion Last Post and a variety of
other sources. That list will appear in the future.
New - 18 June
2007
Name List for World War
II
This name list was assembled from a journal
located in the museum. This journal contained over 1600 names of men who
signed up to join the Westminster Regiment from immobilization in
September 1939 to late 1941. Not all list served overseas. A number
transferred to training depot and then relocated to other units. There
was also a seconded battalion that stayed behind in New Westminster. A
list of those names is now being assembled. This list does not included
those soldiers that joined the Regiment overseas or in their training
while traveling across Canada before embarkation to England. Research is
being conducted to find those names and included them in a list. This is
a work in progress and the museum apologizes for any errors or
omissions. Every effort is being made for accuracy and
correctness.
To view
the list, click here.
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