There wasn’t going to be a third book.
Retired teacher and noted Armstrong historian Len Gamble had already penned a pair of well-received books about Armstrong’s soldiers who fought and died in the two world battles – So Far From Home, about the men who went overseas for the First World War; and So Young They Were, about the locals who left to fight in the Second World War.
But a conversation with his military resource, a man named Marc Tremblay, led Gamble back to the keyboard.
“He said, ‘Len, I have a new project for you, the 172nd Battalion Rocky Mountain Rangers,’” said Gamble.
“I thought I might write something for the OHS (Okanagan Historical Society), but three years and 300 pages later, I have a book.”
Gamble officially launched his latest book, The First World War’s 172nd Battalion Rocky Mountain Rangers (1916-1919), with a two-day signing in June at the Armstrong Spallumcheen Museum and Art Gallery. The Rocky Mountain Rangers had been working to raise their own battalion but men kept getting drafted away to replace casualties during the war.
Finally, in 1915, they were authorized to raise their own battalion. Volunteers from throughout the Okanagan Valley signed up. One man from Quesnel joined.
So did another from Field, near Golden, and another came up from the Lower Mainland.
Members spent the summer of 1916 training at the Vernon Army Camp and in October of that year, the battalion boarded the RMS Mauretania in Halifax, heading for Liverpool, England, to join the First World War.
The hope was that the Rocky Mountain Rangers (RMR) would fight, as Gamble wrote, as a “Band of Brothers.”
However, the battalion was dissolved when it reached England and the men were used as reinforcements.
More than 600, more than a third of the total complement, were posted to four front-line battalions. More than 50 made their contribution in the forestry corps.
Others served with a machine gun brigade, railway troops, pioneer battalions, service corps and staff appointments.
Their first battle was the Battle of Vimy Ridge, and the men of the RMR participated in all of the major First World War battles.
Gamble concludes in his book that the RMR’s participation with every branch of the Canadian Expeditionary Force turned out to be a greater contribution to the war efforts than had they remained as a battalion.
The First World War’s 172nd Battalion Rocky Mountain Rangers (1916-1919) is $20 and is available at the museums in Armstrong, Vernon and Enderby.
It will also be available for purchase at the Armstrong Museum and Art Gallery’s Christmas Craft Sale on Saturday, Nov. 26, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and at the Armstrong Farmers Market sale at the Hassen Arena on Saturday, Dec. 3, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
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roger@vernonmorningstar.com
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