Empire, Canada sent over
600,000 men to fight for
"King and Country" during the
Great War. Treading in the
footsteps of their Highland
ancestors who had first
arrived on Cape Breton's
shores with General Wolfe's
78th Fraser Highlanders in
1758, the young men of the

185th Battalion would
participate in many of the
famous battles of the war---
Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele,
Arras, Ypres and Cambrai in
which thousands of Canadian
soldiers fought and died.
Although the 185th would be
broken up shortly after
arriving overseas and its men

sent to the 85th or to fill
the depleted ranks of the
Nova Scotia 25th Battalion,
the soldiers still maintained
their identity and were among
the vanguard taking the
highest ground at Vimy Ridge.
Its motto: "Siol Na Fear
Fearail" (the Breed of
Manly Men) would still be

carried with pride during the
Second World War where it
earned battle honours at
Monte Cassino and Corianno
Ridge in Italy, and at
Delftzijl in Holland. It
survives today as the Second
Battalion of the Nova Scotia
Highlanders.
   Angus L. MacDonald would