Second Battalion, Ontario Regiment (Tank) by Private Charles R. Lennan

lennan
Newspaper Clipping Containing the Poem by Lennan

When the First Battalion left us
‡‡And out to Borden went,
A second call was issued
‡‡By the Ontario Regiment.

The boys flocked in by thirties and forties;
‡‡For they knew they had a job;
The Second Battalion then was formed
‡‡Under smiling “Colonel Bob.”

In Whitby there is “D” Company,
‡‡And on Monday nights you’ll see
The boys file in to trail and drill,
‡‡Under Captain “Duncan B.”

“Markers, steady,” the bugle blows,
‡‡And in the Company falls —
“Order arms and stand at ease,”
‡‡The Sergeant Major calls.

After many nights of training
‡‡Upon the High School ground:
The boys embarked from Oshawa
‡‡For old Niagara town.

Bayonet drill, squad drill
‡‡And rifle drilling too;
“To the rifle ranges,” marching home —
‡‡And after that a stew.

Night maneuvres-the gas-house,
‡‡With every boy content.
That was the way of camp life,
‡‡With the Ontario Regiment.

But now that camp is over,
‡‡We find with many thanks
That we have been converted
‡‡From infantry to tanks.

To Borden next we may be sent
‡‡And with tanks we’ll have a job;
But we are glad, for we’ll still have
‡‡Our smiling “Colonel Bob.”


Source: Our Ontario. Alex Brown photo album, Whitby Public Library , c1942

The clipping is torn at the bottom. The beginning of what appears to be another stanza of the poem by Lennan can be seen at the tear line.

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