The Origin and Services of the 3rd (Montreal)

CHAPTER VII.THE FIELD BATTERY AS IT is TO-DAY.L,L one has to imagineis one of the smartest of the field batteries ofthe Royal Artillery to be seen at Aldershot, replace the blueshoulder straps on the tunics by red ones, and instead of the uglyhelmets place smart busbies, very much resembling those of theRoyal Horse or Galloping" Artillery, on the heads of officersand men, and one has a very good idea of what the 3rdand as(Montreal) Field Battery looks like on parade to-day,the citizens of Montreal saw it when it marched into quartersat the conclusion of the annual camp last summer.On July 6th, 1883, the Battery discarded the leggings previouslyworn, and adopted the riding breeches and high boots, which distinguish the corps from the other field batteries of the Militia service.The men provide the boots and breeches at their own expense, andthey add greatly to the smart appearance of the well proportionedbatterymen on parade. The Montreal Battery has always, and quitejustly, prided itself upon the fine physique and soldierly bearing of its men, andthe boast was never better justified than at the present time.The Battery has come to be regarded as somewhat of a corps d elite. Manyof its members have served in various other city corps, not a fe\v of them havinggiven up stripes in crack infantry regiments to join the Battery as gunners. Thereis an esprit de corps and feeling of camaraderie in the Field Battery distinctivelyits own, amounting practically to a species of freemasonry. This has had the effectof keeping men in the Battery for long terms of service, and has most advantageously affected the recruiting, for as soon as men take their discharge, friends ofthose remaining always are ready to volunteer to fill the vacancies.The present Sergeant Major of the Battery, J. D. Kendall, has seen 38 yearsservice in the Militia, receiving his first stripe as bombardier in the Battery in 1877,and obtaining his Short Course certificate at the Royal School of Gunnery inJuly, 1878. The same year he was promoted to be corporal, and July 3Oth, 1881,to be sergeant. He succeeded Sergeant Major Walker as tbs chief non-commissioned officer of the Battery in 1896.72