TRANSCRIPT

Demobilization

The cost had been high 755 fatal casualties and over 2000 wounded. In total 4132 men passed though the Battalion and 380 decorations were awarded to the officers and men of the 52nd Battalion. Quite suitably the majority, 268 in all, went to other ranks. Many of these were won in the last months of the war when "mobile warfare" had resumed and there was a great deal of opportunity for individual leadership and initiative.
The 52nd returned home to the Lakehead in March 1919 for demobilization. They had received their Colours in the field from Major General Currie, the previous month, and in that heady atmosphere the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel W.W. Foster, requested that the Militia Department keep the unit on the strength of the Active Militia as a separate unit. He argued that the composition of the unit had changed significantly since its formation out of the old 96th LSR. Many of its members were now from Manitoba and other parts of the west. This had changed the character of the unit so much that by 1917 unit Christmas cards bore the title "Manitoba" instead of "New Ontario." It was Foster's opinion that the 52nd had it's own separate and distinct identity and no real connection the LSR. Because of this and the fact that the order promulgating which units of the Militia would perpetuate the tradition of the CEF had not been issued, the Colours of the 52nd were laid up in St. John's Church, the local Church of England "cathedral." Coincidently this is also the Regimental Church of the 96th LSR. The disposal of the Colours of CEF units was at the discretion of the Commanding Officer and in other cities CEF units passed them along to the affiliated Militia unit. The Colours would not be retrieved by the LSR until 1931.
David Ratz