Excerpts from the EM Branch history, "Canada's Craftsmen at 50!", published in 1998. Written by Colonel Murray Johnston, the EME Colonel Commandant:
The Corps of Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (RCEME) Memorial Gates originated as part of a master plan for the RCEME School in 1950. A competition was announced, but no winners were declared. The Corps Association then stepped in and helped. The gates cost nearly $9,000 to build. Funds came from members and former members of RCEME, regular and militia, officers and other ranks, as well as families and friends.
The gates were built at the entrance to the RCEME School and were dedicated to the "memory of all ranks of the Corps of Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers who died in the service of Canada" in October 1961 by General A.G.L. McNaughton, the Honorary Colonel Commandant. The gates were later extended, and were dedicated by the Commandant of the School, Colonel A.L. Maclean, on 12 May 1968 as part of the ceremonies marking the twenty-fourth Corps birthday.
Having the RCEME Gates at the RCEME School brought their message of commemoration to the attention of new generations of Craftsmen. This advantage was lost in 1970 when the School was moved to Borden. Every Remembrance Day, however, Base Maintenance Kingston and after its formation, the RCEME Association, jointly conducted memorial ceremonies at the RCEME Gates under the aegis of the Base Commander Kingston.
On November 11th, 1991 the Colonel Commandant, Colonel M.C. Johnston, and the Branch Chief Warrant Officer, Chief Warrant Officer A.E. Rest, jointly laid a wreath on behalf of the LEME Branch at the Gates as part of the Remembrance Day ceremonies. At their recommendation the LEME Senate subsequently declared the RCEME gates to be the LEME Branch Memorial. At a stroke the memories of Craftsmen from all eras from RCOC through to LEME had been melded into one memorial.
At the same time action was started to move a 25-Pounder Gun from Borden to Kingston and have it mounted on the West side of the entrance opposite the Sherman tank. This was done and the gun was temporarily installed for the Remembrance Day services in 1992. The entire LEME Senate attended this service. The gun was lovingly refurbished by the Base Maintenance Section of CFB Kingston. Several parts, e.g. the muzzle brake, were chrome plated. The gun layer's seats are aluminum. These "modifications" enhanced the look of the gun but were done to minimize the future maintenance effort required. The gun wears the tactical signs of the 13th Field Regiment RCA which, as part of 3 Canadian Infantry Division, landed in Normandy on D-Day in the first assault wave.
There are two Tactical signs, one on the upper left of the shield and the other on the upper right. Each sign is 9½" wide and 8½" high. Details are: Upper Left-Bisected horizontally Red over Blue (the Field Artillery tactical sign) surmounted by a white 43 (the Regiment's number); Upper Right-French Grey (the division's colour). Prior to using these signs the Colonel Commandant secured the permission of the Commanding Officer of the Regiment at the time of the D-Day landings, Lieutenant-Colonel F. Clifford, and the concurrence of the Regiment's LAD officer just prior to the landings and one who landed with the first assault waves, Captain A. Mendelsohn.
It is interesting to note that this gun was one of two which were used for many years at the Armament Company of the RCEME School as training aids for the training of gun mechanics and officer-cadets. Both guns were moved to Borden with the School in the early 1970s. Later, when the 25-Pounder was taken out of service and no longer used, one of the guns was placed in Worthington Park in CFB Borden. The other languished behind the Range Shack until rescued and returned to Kingston to be mounted at the RCEME Memorial Gates. What a fitting end for a gun on which many of Canada's Craftsmen trained!
The Base Commander was so impressed with what the Branch had done with the Gates that he declared the Gates an attention area. A Canadian flag now flies permanently over the gates. It is spot-lighted at night. Troops are required to march to attention and salute when entering them. It is now a regimental memorial on the same status as Vimy Ridge and regimental memorials of combat arms units. The Branch, i.e. the RCEME Association, the LEME Association, the LEME Officers' fund and the Chief Warrant Officers' Fund bought the flag pole, which is about thirty feet high and is placed to the left of and in front of the gatehouse.
The Base Construction Engineering staff installed the gun, flag pole and lights. Base Maintenance has taken responsibility for the maintenance. As Colonel Johnston has noted, "We now have a national Branch Memorial which gives a feeling of quiet dignity in memory of Canada's Craftsman from RCOC, RCOC(E), RCEME, LORE and LEME who fell in war and during peacekeeping operations. Over and above this what we have achieved at the Gates is the melding together of all eras of our Branch from RCOC to LEME. That's how regiments are made!" Today at Remembrance Day ceremonies and during its Annual Reunion in June, the RCEME Association and representatives of widows and children lay wreaths in honour of members of the Corps and the Branch who made the supreme sacrifice.
