The Grey and Simcoe Foresters
"Tenacious and Versatile"
Serving Canada and our communities at home and abroad
The Grey and Simcoe Foresters camp flag flies beside that of the Canadian Rangers in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut during Operation Nanook - August, 2022. Credit: Bdr Julia Currie, 31 Canadian Brigade Group Public Affairs
Members of the Arctic Response Company Group train during Exercise FRIGID FORESTER, 2015.
This photograph of 9 Platoon, A Coy Grey and Simcoe Foresters shows a number of soldiers from the the Cape Croker and Saugeen First Nations, reflecting the high proportion of those communities who volunteered for service in WWII.
The Grey and Simcoe Foresters camp flag flies beside that of the Canadian Rangers in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut during Operation Nanook - August, 2022. Credit: Bdr Julia Currie, 31 Canadian Brigade Group Public Affairs
Famous Foresters
Sir Sam Steele
Major General Sir Samuel Benfield Steele KCMG CB MVO (5 January 1848 – 30 January 1919) was a distinguished Canadian soldier and police official. He was the third officer to be sworn in to the North West Mounted Police and led them in their famous 'March West' in 1874. He was subsequently the first commanding officer of the Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians) and led them during their service in the Boer War.
Before all of that, however, he was a Forester, and served as such with the Red River Expedition in 1870.
Tommy Holmes, VC
Thomas William Holmes VC (14 October 1898 – 4 January 1950) is still the youngest ever Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross. He joined the 147th (Grey) Battalion of the CEF at Owen Sound at the age of 17, and sailed with them to the UK. There, the unit was broken up for reinforcements and Holmes was transferred to the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles.
It was while with 4 CMR near Passchendaele that Tommy Holmes performed the action that won him the VC: "when the right flank of the Canadian attack was held up by heavy machine-gun fire from a pill-box strong point and heavy casualties were producing a critical situation, Private Holmes, on his own initiative and single-handed, ran forward and threw two bombs, killing and wounding the crews of two machine-guns. He then fetched another bomb and threw this into the entrance of the pill-box, causing the 19 occupants to surrender".
During his investiture at Buckingham Palace he admitted to King George V that he had lied about his age in order to join up.
Alfred B. Thompson
Alfred Burke Thompson (8 August 1915 - 7 August 1985) was the first Canadian to be taken prisoner of war in the Second World War. Serving with the RAF when his Armstrong-Whitworth Whitley developed engine trouble over Germany on the night of 8-9 September 1939, Alfred bailed out with the rest of his crew. They were taken prisoner one day before Canada officially declared war. Alfred later participated in the famous 'Great Escape' prison break, was recaptured, and spent the rest of the war in captivity.
Prior to this RAF/RCAF service, Thompson, from Penetanguishene, had enlisted in the Simcoe Foresters in April 1933, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in December 1934.
Leslie Frost
Leslie Miscampbell Frost, PC CC QC (September 20, 1895 – May 4, 1973) served as the 16th premier of Ontario from May 4, 1949 to November 8, 1961. Known as 'Old Man Ontario' and the 'Silver Fox' in politics, this Orillia native was an officer with "C"Company 157th Battalion (Simcoe Foresters), CEF, during the First World War, was wounded and left the service with the rank of Captain.
The Grey and Simcoe Foresters are a Primary Reserve infantry regiment, based in Barrie and Owen Sound, Ontario, with a long and storied history of serving Canada.
The current regiment was formed by the amalgamation in 1936 of two county-based militia regiments - the Grey Regiment and the Simcoe Foresters. Both of these regiments predate the foundation of Canada itself: in fact they were both authorized on the same day - the 14th September 1866.
The modern regiment thus perpetuates units which served in the Northwest Rebellion and the First World War and was awarded its most recent battle honour - AFGHANISTAN - in 2014. This honour is only awarded to those reserve regiments who sent 20% of their authorized strength to the mission.
Individual members of the regiment have seen service in Boer War, the First and Second World Wars, Korea, UN peacekeeping missions and in Afghanistan.
Currently, the Grey and Simcoe Foresters are responsible for the generation of 4 Canadian Division's Arctic Response Company Group (ARCG). This involves the maintenance of an arctic warfare capability and regular training missions in Canada's far North, where the regiment works closely with the Canadian Rangers and other First Nations partners.
With the amalgamation in 2007 of our affiliated British regiment - the Sherwood Foresters - into the Mercian Regiment, the Grey and Simcoe Foresters are now the only remaining battalion of infantry in the world to be designated as "Foresters".
