Regimental Numberblock of Servicenumber F88499

[David Dunlop]

OK, this is an interesting thread.

I knew the Army Service Numbers were all prefixed with a letter code for the various military regions across Canada, but I never knew the system was also used to define, or identify a particular military unit via blocks of numbers.

Dug out my copy of the XII Manitoba Dragoons Regimental Diary and started looking at all the member Service Numbers, and sure enough, most numbers are from the Military District Block H-77XXX for the ranks of L/Cpl and above. But interestingly, for the Troopers, about 50 to 60% of the unit strength came from other areas of Canada: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, K, L, M and P. The number of digits for any prefixed Service Number run from a low of one to a high of six.

With such a hodge podge of service numbers in just one Regiment, it makes me wonder why they even bothered blocking them out to specific units in the first place?

David