209 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca STURGEON, James Leslie “Les” WWII Les enlisted in May 1941 in the 18th Manitoba RECCE as a cook. He took basic training in Shilo, Manitoba then in Barrie, Ontario where he was made Corporal. The Regiment was en route to Hong Kong when Pearl Harbour was bombed, so Les was stationed on Vancouver Island – Victoria, Esquimalt, and Sooke Guard Duty. He then went to Truro, Nova Scotia, and from there was posted overseas in 1942. He returned in May 1943 crippled with arthritis and was discharged. Les spent many months in Deer Lodge Hospital. He passed away on July 30, 1965. SUTHERLAND, Laurence Floyd PEACETIME Laurence joined the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, 2nd Battalion in January 1967. He took basic training in Wainwright, Alberta, and Edmonton, Alberta. He was sent to Egypt in late 1967 and arrived in Cairo where they stayed for 48 hours. The United Nations had to pull out because of civil war. He went to West Germany for three years with the occupational forces. In 1969, they were on standby for 48 hours because of the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia. In 1970, he returned to Winnipeg to the new Fort Osborne Barracks. He was in the October Crisis in Montreal in 1971, for three months, while the search was on for LaPorte and Cross. He relayed messages to different areas from block to block. In 1972, he went to Cyprus for six months as a dispatcher, in the peacekeeping forces. He ran in the cross-country races against the U.N. forces stationed there. They, Canadian runners, always came in fourth but in Canada they came in first. The courses he took during his army career were assault pioneers, driver-track, driver-wheel, mountain warfare, winter warfare, pay level 5 (junior non-commission officer course) and para course in Germany. In his last two years in the army, he was a cook in Fort Osborne Barracks. Laurence received his release on November 25, 1975.
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