2444 RAdm (Ret`d) John A Charles (RMC ’35) CMM, CD, MID RCN
Born in Rouleau Saskatchewan 27 Mar 1918, John Charles joined the R.C.N. directly from the Royal Military College on 1 September 1937. He was immediately sent to the Royal Navy for cadet, mid-shipmen and Sub-Lieutenant training. At the start of war of WWII, was a mid-shipman in H.M.S. BERWICK which patrolled northern waters and later, Norwegian operations. After the fall of France in 1940, was second in command of a party mounting guns around the south coast of England. That fall, he joined HMCS RESTIGOUCHE for convoy duty as part of the Clyde Escort Force. In 1942, after a signals course in the U.K., joined HMS LAFOREY for operations as Signal Officer, 19th Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean for operations in North Africa, Sicily, Salerno, Anzio and points in between. Upon returning to Canada in 1944, he performed staff
signal duties at St. Hyacinthe, Esquimalt and Washington, DC. He took command HMCS CRESCENT on 1 Jan 1948. After RN and JSSC staff course, joined HMCS MAGNIFICENT. He was appointed Director Naval Communications and in the fall of 1953 took command of HMCS. HAIDA. On arrival in Korea, he became Commander Canadian Destroyer Far East and promoted to Captain then as Commandant, Royal Roads College for three years from 1954 to 1957 then back to Ottawa as Director of Naval Operations.
He returned to Esquimalt as Commander 2nd Escort Squadron and in 1961 assigned as Commodore, R.C.N. Barracks Esquimalt. After a National Defence College course, he returned to NDHQ as Assistant Chief of Naval Staff. On 1 Aug 1966, he went back to the west coast as Maritime Force Commander Pacific as Rear-Admiral. He returned to Ottawa in 1969 as Assistant C.D.S. Plans and later as Chief of Maritime Operations. He retired in 1974 from the post of Deputy Chief of Defence Staff. He founded the Friends of Hatley Park Society, a group of volunteers who now work with Royal Roads University to preserve the grounds and gardens. He was awarded an honorary degree at Royal Roads University in 2008.
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4809 Colonel Mark ID Egener (RMC ’60) was appointed Colonel of the Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) Regiment on 18 July 2003. He was born in Toronto, Ontario in July 1938 and spent his formative years in London, Ontario. He attended the Royal Military College in Kingston Ontario and the University of Western Ontario where he was granted a Bachelor of Engineering Science (Mechanical Engineering) in 1961. He was posted to The Fort Garry Horse and held a series of Regimental appointments in Petawawa and North West Europe. In 1964 he attended the Technical Staff Course at the Royal Military College of Science in Shrivenham, UK. He returned to Canada to the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps School, Trials and Evaluation Unit, in 1966. He was a student at the Canadian Army Staff College in 1967 and joined the Strathcona’s as a Squadron commander in Germany in 1968. On return to Canada in 1970, he completed a two-year Master of War Studies program at the Royal Military College. This was followed by a tour as Senior Canadian with the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan. In 1973 he was appointed Commanding Officer of Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) in Calgary. Following regimental command, Colonel Egener served as Assistant Military Attaché (Army) and Acting Military Attaché in Washington D.C. In 1977 he returned to Kingston on the Directing Staff of the Army Staff College. In 1978 he accepted a position with Nova Corporation of Alberta (then Alberta Gas Trunk Line) to be involved with a small group in the development of the Western Petrochemical Project. Here he occupied a number of challenging positions before being transferred on executive loan to the Alberta Government in Edmonton in 1983 to be Managing Director of Alberta Public Safety Services (a Deputy Minister level position). He remained in the public service of Alberta for the next twelve years as Chief Executive Officer of this provincial government agency responsible for the development of legislation, advising the minister and cabinet and administering the organization responsible for disaster and emergency preparedness, response and recovery and hazardous material regulation in Alberta. Also during this period he was instrumental in the establishment of the Major Industrial Accidents Council of Canada and he served on the Council’s Board of Directors and as its Chairman. In 1995 he retired from public service and formed a consulting company, Summit Enterprises International Inc (S.e.i.), which focussed on crisis and risk management as well as general management services. In 1998, S.e.i. became associated with Global Change Strategies International Inc., one of Canada’s leading consult a ncies in the climate change and global warming field. His clients include the federal, provincial and municipal governments, leading Canadian corporations and a number of international governments and agencies. Colonel Egener lives in Edmonton with his wife Julia. They have two grown children and five grandchildren in Ottawa and Canmore, Alberta.
Source: Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) Regimental Manual © Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) Regimental Society, 2004
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18239 Major David Proteau (CMR ’92) was born in Forestville, Quebec. He joined the Canadian Forces in June 1987 and studied at the College Militaire Royal de St-Jean where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree. Upon graduation in the summer of 1992, Maj Proteau attended the Canadian Forces Air Navigator School (CFANS) where he earned his Air Navigator wings in June 1993. Maj Proteau’s first operational tour was with 407 Squadron in Comox, British Columbia where he flew on the CP-140 Aurora, first as an Acoustic Sensor Operator (ASO) then as a Tactical Navigator (TacNav). He finished his tour in Comox in 1998 after serving as the Squadron Training Tactical Navigator for one year. In September 1998, Maj Proteau was posted back to CFANS where instructed Officer Development and Tactics before becoming Tactical Cell lead for his last year at the Unit. He was posted to 17 Wing in 2001 and worked as Executive Assistant to the Wing Commander for a period of two year before being transferred to 405 Squadron in Greenwood, Nova Scotia in the spring of 2003 to start his second Operational tour flying on the CP-140 Aurora. From 2003 to 2005, he worked as Lead Navigator on crew and participated in many anti-submarine exercises in places such as Jacksonville, Florida, Kinloss, Scotland and Nimes-Garon, France. Maj Proteau was promoted to his current rank in June 2005 and posted to CFSSAT as Commandant. In June 2008 he was appointed as Commanding Officer of the Air Command Band.
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7326 Ed Allard (RRMC RMC ’68) grew up in Thunder Bay via England
His father, Rheal Allard, was a Canadian soldier overseas during the Second World War when he met his future wife, Joyce Felton, who was with the RAF. The couple married, but tragically Rheal was killed during the Falaise Gap battle in August, 1944, only a month after landing in France.
Joyce, then in her third trimester with Ed, decided to move to Canada from Brighton, England, to be closer to her late husband’s family following the birth of her child.
Ed wanted to pursue engineering studies and, with the encouragement of a guidance counselor, he successfully enrolled at the former Royal Roads Military College, in Victoria, B. C. He later transferred to Kingston’s Royal Military College where he graduated with a civil engineering degree.
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“The [Advanced Survival, Evade, Resistance, Escape (SERE) course] course is by all means physically demanding,” says 18067 Maj Jean Bernier (CMR ’91), Commandant of the Canadian Forces School of Survival and Aeromedical Training (CFSSAT). “This is done purposely so that candidates learn how to apply survival skills while under a great deal of stress and fatigue.” As such, special emphasis is placed on evading enemy forces, resisting interrogation if caught, and escaping from the enemy after capture. “At this point, candidates should all agree that their worse day on the run is always better than their best day in captivity,” said Maj Bernier. The CFSSAT provides initial and continuation training for all CF aircrew on such diverse topics as life support equipment and human factors, search and evasion as well as disorientation and night vision.
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15658 Rohan JP Maxwell (RRMC 1986) has been Chief of Politico-Military Advisory Section at NATO Headquarters Sarajevo since February 2005. He provides integrated analysis, planning and implementation support to the Commander and the Political Advisor/Director Defence & Security Sector Reform, NATO Headquarters Sarajevo.
He served as a Combat Engineer with the Canadian Army from 1982 – 2005 (23 years). He holds a MA, War Studies from RMC, 2003 with a dissertation topic: peacebuilding and military operations. He earned a BSc, Physics, Computer Science, 1982 – 1987 from Royal Roads Military College.
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10162 Commander Brian Palmer (RMC 1974) enrolled in the Canadian Forces in 1970 as a cadet at the Royal Military College in Kingston and graduated in 1974 with a bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering. In 1993, he attended the Royal Navy Staff College in Greenwich, England where he also received a master-of-arts degree in Defence Studies from the University of London. He was promoted to this current rank in 2000 and appointed as Head of the Canadian Forces Joint Doctrine, Lessons Learned and Standardization Section within the Deputy Chief of Defence Staff Group in National Defence Headquarters. In July 2003, he was assigned to the Headquarters of NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Transformation in Norfolk, Virginia where he developed new concepts of operations to enhance NATO’s capability for the twenty-first century. Commander Palmer assumed the position of Commanding Officer of the Regional Cadet Support Unit (Atlantic) on 2 October 2007. Commander Palmer and his wife, Judy, reside in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Source