18 Field Ambulance is one of the 16

Royal Canadian Medical Service The Royal Canadian Medical Service (RCMS, ) is a personnel branch of the Canadian Armed Forces, consisting of all members of medical occupations. Nearly all members of the RCMS, along with the members of the Royal Canadian Dental Corps (RCDC), are ...

(RCMS) reserve medical units. Situated in

Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario. Its population i ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

History

The 18 Field Ambulance was formed in 1921 in Winnipeg. Originally it was designated 4 Field Ambulance in order to perpetuate the First World War service of 4 Canadian Field Ambulance, Canadian Expeditionary Force. Its war-time predecessor had been formed in Winnipeg on 7 November 1914 and served in France and Flanders 1915–1919 as part of the 2nd Canadian Division. During the Second World War, 4 Field Ambulance formed another active service unit, which served first in Italy and later in France and Belgium. ''Timeline:'' *1921: Formation authorized at Winnipeg, Manitoba *1923: Relocated to Port Arthur, Ontario, upon full organization *1937: Relocated to Fort William and lodged at the Simpson Street Armoury (Fort William is now a part of the city Thunder Bay), Ontario *15 December 1939: Left Fort William for Halifax *19 December 1939: Sailed to

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, to be stationed at Camp

Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...

*6 June 1940: Finished training at

*13 June 1940: Landed in France *15 June 1940: Left France after collapse of French forces *August 1942: Moved to

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

to help

Dieppe Dieppe (; ; or Old Norse ) is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department, Normandy, northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to Newhaven in England ...

casualties *27 June 1943: Sailed to

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

*10 July 1943: Landed in Sicily as part of the

Allied invasion of Sicily The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as the Battle of Sicily and Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allies of World War II, Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis p ...

*6 August 1943: Prepared for the invasion of

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

*7 September 1943: Landed in Italy *1 March 1945: Reached banks of

Senio River The Senio () is a river of Romagna in Italy, the final right-sided tributary of the river Reno (river), Reno. The source of the river is in the province of Florence in the Apennine Mountains#Northern Apennines, Appennino Tosco-Emiliano mountains. ...

*9 March 1945: Sailed for

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

*18 April 1945: Occupied

Apeldoorn Apeldoorn (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland in the centre of the Netherlands. The municipality of Apeldoorn, including the villages of Beekbergen, Loenen (Apeldoorn), Loenen, Ugchelen and Hoenderloo ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

*8 May 1945: Left the Netherlands after German surrender *2 September 1945: Returned home to Fort William Armouries *1954: Reorganized as 17 Medical Company *1965: Unit becomes a sub-unit of the Lake Superior Service Battalion *1970: Lake Superior Service Battalion disbanded, Medical Section transferred to 138 Company RCASC (Thunder Bay) *1975: Reorganized as an independent unit designated 18 Medical Company *1980: Command passed to Lieutenant-Colonel JL Remus (Thunder Bay) *1985: Command passed to Lieutenant-Colonel EC Diem (Thunder Bay) *1991: Command passed to

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

G Perales (Thunder Bay) *1994: Command passed to Lt(N) ID Sweet (Thunder Bay) *1995: Command passed to Major DP Gresko (Thunder Bay) *2004: Re-organized as 18 Field Ambulance *2006: Command passed to Major M Thibert (Thunder Bay) *2015: Command passed to Major DP Gresko (Thunder Bay)

World War I

Assigned as Medical unit for 6th Canadian Infantry Brigade and provided their medical needs at the following battles: The Somme,

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; , or ) is a city and Communes of France, commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in the region ...

Vimy Ridge The Battle of Vimy Ridge was part of the Battle of Arras, in the Pas-de-Calais department of France, during the First World War. The main combatants were the four divisions of the Canadian Corps in the First Army, against three divisions of ...

, Fosse, Passchendaele, and

Arras Arras ( , ; ; historical ) is the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department, which forms part of the region of Hauts-de-France; before the reorganization of 2014 it was in Nord-Pas-de-Calais. The historic centre of the Artois region, with a ...

World War II

During World War II, 18 Field Ambulance was assigned as Medical unit for the 1st Infantry Brigade (

Royal Canadian Regiment The Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR) is an infantry regiment of the Canadian Army. The regiment consists of four battalions, three in the Regular Force and one in the primary reserve. The RCR is ranked first in the order of precedence amongst Canadi ...

Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment is a Primary Reserve infantry regiment of the Canadian Army. The regiment is part of 33 Canadian Brigade Group, one of four brigade groups of 4th Canadian Division. The regimental headquarters and one co ...

, 48th Highlanders) and provided their medical needs at the following battles.

Italy, 1943-1945

Valguarnera Caropepe Valguarnera Caropepe (; Sicilian: ''Carrapipi'') is a ''comune'' in Province of Enna, Sicily, southern Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consis ...

* Grammichele * Assoro *

Agira Agira (; ; ) is a town and municipality (''comune'') in the province of Enna in the region of Sicily in Italy. It is located in the mid-valley of the River Salso, from Enna. Until 1861 it was called San Filippo d'Argiriò, in honour of its sa ...

Adrano Adrano (; Adernò until 1929; ), ancient '' Adranon'', is a town and in the Metropolitan City of Catania on the east coast of Sicily. It is situated around northwest of Catania, which was also the capital of the province to which Adrano belo ...

Regalbuto Regalbuto (Latin: Ameselum; Sicilian: ''Regarbutu'') is a ''comune'' in the province of Enna, Sicily, southern Italy. There is an annual cattle fair held in the month of August. History Regalbuto may be the ancient town of Amaselos, which w ...

*Landing at

Reggio Calabria Reggio di Calabria (; ), commonly and officially referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the List of cities in Italy, largest city in Calabria as well as the seat of the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria. As ...

Medical staff, who were involved early in the planning of the invasion of Italy, developed a plan to evacuate casualties back to the landing beaches where additional clearing stations and field surgical units, as well as special beach medical sections would be located. These would be available for the care of the casualties until they could be evacuated by landing craft to Sicily itself or to nearby hospital ships. The units which would put this plan into effect included a field ambulance accompanying each brigade, two field surgical units, a field dressing station and a field transfusion unit. Their role was to set up an advanced surgical center near the advanced dressing station in Reggio. All of the remaining divisional medical resources were to have crossed to Italy by D-Day +7. In addition, plans were made for landing strips to be made available and prioritization of those casualties who might require air transport. Malaria treatment and prophylaxis was a high priority and many proposals were put forth to reduce the incidence rate. One such proposal was to withdraw the issue of short pants from the troops as they tended to leave these on after dark when mosquitoes became active. 4 Field Ambulance was given the task of caring for the wounded being ferried to Sicily on landing craft. This tasking was in addition to the normal duties of providing medical care. The Canadians landed on 3 September 1943 with negligible opposition and secured their objectives by the end of the day. The first casualty to be treated by 4 Field Ambulance in Italy was on 7 September when the unit was set up in Delianuova along with No. 1 Field Surgical Unit and No. 1 Field Transfusion Unit. On 8 September the surrender of Italy was announced. At this time the Canadian axis of advance was moving mainly to the east coast road and soon Locri was in 3rd Brigade hands. By the 13th the Unit moved into Marina di Catanzaro and were joined by their rear-party with additional vehicles and equipment. This brought them up to war establishment for the first time since the original landing. *

Motta Montecorvino Motta Montecorvino ( Pugliese: ) is a town, ''comune'' (municipality), former bishopric and present Latin Catholic titular see in the province of Foggia, Apulia, southeast Italy. The city was losing its population in the early 15th century, and th ...

Campobasso Campobasso (, ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in southern Italy, the capital of the region of Molise and of the province of Campobasso. It is located in the high basin of the Biferno river, surrounded by Sannio and Matese mountains. Campobas ...

* Torella del Sannio * Moro River * San Leonardo,

* The Gully *

Ortona Ortona ( Abruzzese: '; ) is a coastal town and municipality of the Province of Chieti in the Italian region of Abruzzo, with some 23,000 inhabitants. In 1943 Ortona was the site of the bloody Battle of Ortona, known as "Western Stalingrad". ...

- San Nicola and San Tommaso (villages in Ortona) * Naviglio Canal * Fosso Vecchio * Cassino II *

Gustav Line The Winter Line was a series of German and Italian military fortifications in Italy, constructed during World War II by Organisation Todt and commanded by Albert Kesselring. The series of three lines was designed to defend a western section of ...

Liri Valley The Valle del Liri (''Liri valley'') is a valley and a geographical region of southern Lazio and part of the larger Latin Valley, located in the province of Frosinone, crossed by the Liri river (as well as the Valle Roveto in Abruzzo, which is inc ...

Hitler Line The Hitler Line was a German Army defensive line in central Italy during the Second World War. The strong points of the line were at Piedimonte, Pontecorvo, and Aquino. In May 1944, the line was renamed the Senger Line, after General Fridoli ...

Gothic Line The Gothic Line (; ) was a German and Italian defensive line of the Italian Campaign of World War II. It formed Field Marshal Albert Kesselring's last major line of defence along the summits of the northern part of the Apennine Mountains du ...

* Lamone Crossing * Misano Ridge * Rimini Line * San Fortunato * Bulgaria Village * San Martino – San Lorenzo * Pisciatello

North-West Europe, 1945

Notable members

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

Robert Angus Keane . First enlisted with 4 Field Ambulance as a Private in 1930 at age 15. Later Commissioned as a Lieutenant in The Lake Superior Regiment and would Command The Lake Superior Regiment (Motor) during the Second World War. Would later Command the newly raised 2nd Battalion,

The Royal Canadian Regiment The Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR) is an infantry regiment of the Canadian Army. The regiment consists of four battalions, three in the Regular Force and one in the primary reserve. The RCR is ranked first in the order of precedence amongst Canad ...

during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

and serve in various senior roles until retiring from the Canadian Army in 1965.

References

{{Reflist *National Defense (2007) 18 Field Ambulance (Thunder Bay) Brief History from https://web.archive.org/web/20080224101804/http://www.army.forces.gc.ca/18Medical_Company/18med_default.htm *Governor General of Canada. (2007). Order of Canada, from https://archive.today/20070930060930/http://www.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=3823 Medical units and formations of Canada Organizations based in Thunder Bay Military units and formations established in 2004 Military units and formations of Canada in World War I Military units and formations of Canada in World War II