Brandon College established a Canadian Officer Training Corps (COTC) program in 1916 and had enough students for a platoon that would join the 196th Western Universities Battalion's B Company. COTC logs for in the SJ McKee Archives show that at least 40 men regularly attended classes on campus during the 1916 winter term.
The Brandon Daily Sun published the names of 60 potential platoon recruits before they headed to Camp Hughes to train in the summer of 1916. Although Lt. J.R.C. Evans spearheaded the training of the COTC enlistees at Brandon College, he was found medically unfit for overseas service. In his stead, the son of the college's founder, Lt. William Carey McKee, lead the platoon to Camp Hughes where they joined the 196th Battalion. Of the 60 recruits identified in the local paper, 20 would not survive the war, including Lt. McKee. [ST/2016]
Scope and Content
Photograph shows a group of 40 men wearing WWI uniforms. The men have the Canada general service cap badge on their headdress. The officer in the centre of the group (i.e., the man with the cane) is J.R.C. Evans. The group of men are likely members of the first Brandon College Platoon, which joined the 196th Western Universities Battalion.
xxxii, 616 p., [3] leaves of plates : ill., maps, ports. ; 21 cm
Notes
Maps on end papers
"Authorised by the Minister of Education for use in the high schools and collegiate institutes of Ontario, and by the Advisory Board for use in Manitoba"
A compendium of modern geography : with remarks on the physical peculiarities, productions, commerce, and government of the various countries; questions for examination at the end of each division and descriptive tables in which are give the pronunciation, and a concise account of every place of importance throughout the world
Authorized by the Advisory Board of the Department of Education for use in the public schools, high schools, and collegiate institutes of the Province of Manitoba