THE 117th Battalion Association

The 117th Battalion Association was formed in 1930 and the first reunion was held at the Chateau Frontenac Hotel in August of that year. This hotel was located on the corner of Wellington and Aberdeen streets in Sherbrooke (until the 1960's).

The Association met every year thereafter, usually in August, and varied its meeting place throughout the Eastern Townships. Locations included Sherbrooke, Ayers Cliff, Bury, Magog and Coaticook among others. The last reunion was held in 1958.

The Association did its part to ensure that former battalion members who were ailing in health were given some comforts - usually in the form of cigarettes. In 1945, in lieu of a reunion, the Association donated its treasury towards the purchase of a Bren gun for the war effort overseas. Although members of the 117th Battalion Association were deemed too old to fight in WWII, they were still willing to do their part for the war effort. In 1950, during the Korean War, the Association wrote to the Minister of National Defence and volunteered the membership as a civil defence organization. The offer was much appreciated by the Minister's office but reminded the Association that civil defence matters were the jurisdiction of local municipalites.

Over the years, much of the the Association's notes and attendance registers have been lost. Those that are still available been donated to the Eastern Townships Research Centre at Bishop's University, Lennoxville Quebec.

It is my intention to continue to search for 117th Association notes and registers at which time a more detailed history will be written. If you have any notes from 1930 to 1958 please contact me.

PRESIDENTS OF THE 117th BATTALION ASSOCATION

1930-31 ...LCol A.C. Hanson

1932-33 ...Sgt Wray P Adams, MM

1934 ........LCol H Boutelle

1935 ........Corporal W Willshire

1936 ........LCol H Robinson, MC

1937 ........Capt W McCutcheon

1938 ........Corporal F Whiting

1939 ........LCol Sam Echenberg

1940 ........LCol A Whitehead

1941-44 ...Lt R Farley

1945 .......No Reunion - Bren guns Purchased

1946 .......George A Johnson

1947 .......Tom Cockburn

1948 .......Corporal F West, MM and bar

1949 .......Jack Meade

1950 .......Corporal F Barber, MM

1951 .......Fred Tyler

1952 .......QMS Henry Parson

1953 .......Sgt O Hamilton

1954 .......Sgt L Shaw, MM

1955 .......Charlie Smith

1956 .......Major Locke

1957 .......Frank Price

1958 .......James Breckenridge

Photo of the 1966 117th Battalion reunion: (from l. to r. Charles Smith; S.J. Sayer; Foster Shorten; Henry D. Pearson; Fred Adams; James Strickland; Ed Kingsland; Fred H. West *(last surviving member of the 117th Battalion)