Canadian Army NCOs with Andrew Brown
For centuries, countries have relied on their non-commissioned officer (NCO) corps to form the backbone of their armed forces. The Canadian Army was no different in the Second World War. As it mobilized from fewer than 56,000 regular and part-time soldiers to almost a half-million men and women, it needed to grow an effective NCO corps of corporals, sergeants, and warrant officers.
Today’s guest, Andrew Brown, joins the podcast to examine how the Canadian Army met this challenge. We begin by defining the position and role of an NCO and look at what the service files from infantry NCOs tell us about this group of soldiers. We discuss how the army trained NCOs, its expectations for these soldiers, and the importance of NCOs to success on the battlefield. We finish our conversation with some concluding thoughts about the importance of maintaining an effective NCO corps in light of the present war in Ukraine.
Sergeant D. Wilson of the Highland Light Infantry of Canada training privates J. Brunelle and A. Munro to use the PIAT (Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank) during an exercise in England, 13 April 1944 (Lieut. Donald I. Grant / DND / LAC / PA-132894).
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Time Stamps
2:24 What Are NCOs?
6:59 NCO Service Files
13:41 Mobilizing the NCO Corps
19:10 NCO Training
24:28 The Army’s Expectations
33:00 The Allied Crisis
36:01 The Heat of Battle
43:07 Lessons for Ukraine
Guest Biography
Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew L. Brown began his career as a non-commissioned member of the infantry, eventually rising to the rank of sergeant. He has deployed to Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Afghanistan. Andrew was commissioned as an officer in the Intelligence Branch and now holds a PhD and serves as an assistant professor of history at the Royal Military College of Canada. His book is Building the Army’s Backbone: Canadian Non-Comissioned Officers in the Second World War, published by UBC Press.
Notes
The following links offer more information on the topics discussed in this episode:
Podcasts
Crerar’s Lieutenants with Geoff Hayes
Jumping Across the Rhine with 1 Can Para Veterans
Canadian Army Logistics with Arthur Gullachsen
Legacy of Honour interviews with NCO veterans
Norm Kirby, North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment
Jim Parks, Royal Winnipeg Rifles
George Chow, 16th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery
Digital Exhibitions
The Invasion of Sicily and the Italian Campaign
Encyclopaedia
Unemployment, Drought and Locusts
The National Resources Mobilization Act
Credits
Juno Beach & Beyond is hosted and edited by Alex Fitzgerald-Black, the Juno Beach Centre Association’s Executive Director.
Mackenzie King’s speech to British Parliament from the British Pathé YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SlEvclY5LE&t=48s
Artillery firing sounds from the CBC News: The National YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsCSQ4uWR1Y
Female veteran’s voice (Eileen Green, née Short) Courtesy of The Memory Project, Historica Canada: http://www.thememoryproject.com/stories/383:eileen-green-nee-short/
Winston Churchill’s “Finest Hour” speech from Jonathan Thomas’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB5wZtV1MWM
Spitfire sound effect from Jason Kirby’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgZI4tAoMN0
Dramatic Interlude by Alexander Nakarada | https://www.serpentsoundstudios.com
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Dispatches from Juno shares all the news, events, and stories from the Juno Beach Centre in France and Canada. Interested in contributing a story to the blog? Email the editor at jbca@junobeach.org.
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