Regimental Numberblock of Servicenumber F88499

[David Dunlop]

RickM.

Not totally sure it would make any sense to use any given military unit as a 'home reference' for repatriating servicemen after the war. Yes, Regiments are typically headquartered/based in a specific part of the country, but as the XII Manitoba Dragoons records show, a Regiment will have a very mixed group of individuals in it, on the basis of where they actually lived in Canada at the time of their enlistments. The XII MD's were based in Virden, Manitoba during the war but as I mentioned earlier, their members were scattered all across the country.

When I looked at troop ship manifests of Canadian Servicemen who came back to Canada via New York City after the war, they were definitely sorted by the Military Districts in Canada in which they enlisted. You would find quite a selection of units on any given ship, but all the troops (with some exceptions) would be from one primary Military District. This greatly simplified transport by rail once back in North America. This sorting was done at a number of Canadian Military processing centres across Europe and The UK.

Cheers for now,

David