The Royal Canadian Army Service Corps (RCASC) was an administrative and transport corps of the Canadian Army. The Canadian Army Service Corps was established in the Non-Permanent Active Militia in 1901, and in the Permanent Active Militia in 1903.[2] The Canadian Permanent Army Service Corps was redesignated The Royal Canadian Army Service Corps on 3 Nov 1919.
The RCASC was established, by General Order No. 141, as the Canadian Army Service Corps (CASC), on November 1, 1901. The CASC was modelled directly off the British Army Service Corps to provide all transportation and supply services to the Army. Initially, the CASC consisted of four companies to support the Active Militia units. The Corps grew quickly, doubling the number of units by 1903, and growing by another three companies by 1905. By the summer of 1914 the CASC had a strength of 3000 personnel in eighteen companies.
During World War I, the CASC provided a support element for each Canadian Division, and later on, for the Canadian Corps. With the introduction of motorized vehicles, the CASC carried commodities of a greater range and of greater weights. Motorized transportation also resulted in expanded responsibilities such as driving ambulances and engineer pontoon vehicles, carrying all natures of ammunition, and mobile repair and recovery. In recognition of the services rendered during the Great War, His Majesty King George V authorized the designator “Royal” in 1919.
The RCASC, along with the rest of the Army, underwent a rapid expansion as Canada mobilized for the Second World War. In addition to maintaining transport for the army on land, the R.C.A.S.C. also commanded and maintained a ship-borne freight and patrol company, the Pacific Command Water Transport Company, R.C.A.S.C., during World War II. The RCASC provided support to Canadian Soldiers wherever they went; training in Canada and Great Britain, the campaign in north-west Europe, and in the campaign in Italy. The RCASC moved supplies from the rear areas to the front-lines. They delivered all rations, ammunition, petroleum products, and all other essentials. They did so with a variety of vehicles ranging from three to ten ton trucks, and forty ton tank transporters.
Name: Barbour, Victor
Rank: Private
Age 25
No. H/65062
Unit: 7th Infantry Brigade Company
Missing since: 20-10-1944
Next of Kin: Son of Andrew and Anna Barbour, of Poplar Point, Manitoba.
Groesbeek Panel: 11
KIA Information: Known to have been killed in a explosion at Ijzendijke.
Name: Larkin, Edwin Edward
Rank: Corporal
Age 24
No. H/37796
Unit: 7th Infantry Brigade Company
Missing since: 20-10-1944
Next of Kin: Son of Edward John and Caroline Larkin, of Marquette, Manitoba.
Groesbeek Panel: 11
KIA Information: Known to have been killed in a explosion at Ijzendijke.
Name: Sandison, Walter John
Rank: Private
Age 25
No. H/37730
Unit: 7th Infantry Brigade Company
Missing since: 20-10-1944
Next of Kin: Son of Walter James and Helena Anne Sandison.
Husband of Pearl Sandison, of Lockport, Manitoba.
Groesbeek Panel: 11
KIA Information: Known to have been killed in a explosion at Ijzendijke.
Name: Biggin, Eric
Rank: Private
Age 22
No. D/105708
Unit: 7th Infantry Brigade Company
Missing since: 20-10-1944
Next of Kin: Son of Charles Arthur Biggin, of Mackayville, Ontario
Groesbeek Panel: 11
KIA Information: Known to have been killed in a explosion at Ijzendijke.
Name: O'Connor, Bernard Joseph
Rank: Private
Age 22
No. B/97004
Unit: 7th Infantry Brigade Company
Missing since: 20-10-1944
Next of Kin: Son of William O'Connor, of Toronto, Ontario.
Groesbeek Panel: 11
KIA Information: Known to have been killed in a explosion at Ijzendijke.
Name: Boatman, Leonard Joseph
Rank: Private
Age 26
No. A/58587
Unit: 7th Infantry Brigade Company
Missing since: 20-10-1944
Next of Kin: Son of George H and Eleanora Boatman, of Waterloo, Ontario
Groesbeek Panel: 11
KIA Information: Known to have been killed in a explosion at Ijzendijke.
Name: Roulston, Lorne Edgar
Rank: Private
Age 23
No. H/87456
Unit: 7th Infantry Brigade Company
Missing since: 20-10-1944
Next of Kin: Son of John and Mabel Roulston, of Marchwell, Saskatchewan.
Groesbeek Panel: 11
KIA Information: Known to have been killed in a explosion at Ijzendijke.
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Philip Reinders, 2016