Colonel Johnston Creek is named in memory of Lieutenant-Colonel Sydney Douglas Johnston, MC and bar.
Sydney Douglas Johnston was born in April 1896 in Vancouver. Upon the outbreak of the First World War, he enlisted in the 72nd Battalion (Seaforth Highlanders) but was reassigned to the 16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish) and served under LCol Cyrus Wesley Peck, VC. The 16th Battalion sailed for the UK in early October 1914 and trained on Salisbury Plain until it embarked for France in mid February 1915. The Battalion took part in all major engagements of the Canadian Corps including Ypres, The Somme, Vimy and Passchendaele. Earning a commission in the field, it is during one of these battles that Johnston was seriously wounded in 1916 and awarded the Military Cross and later a bar to the Military Cross. Upon his return to Canada, then Major Johnston moved to Prince Rupert and established an insurance and real estate business. In 1932 as a Lieutenant-Colonel, he took command of the 102nd Battalion which became a Heavy Anti-Aircraft artillery unit, and under LCol Johnston’s command, had the task of defending the vital port of Prince Rupert during WW II. He remained in Prince Rupert after the war, retiring in 1957. Lieutenant- Colonel Sydney D. Johnston died in November 1966 in Vancouver.
