PRIVATE WALLACE Always “Ready for the Fray”
On January 3, 1946 members of the 1st Battalion, Canadian Scottish Regiment, sailed from Vancouver to Victoria’s Inner Harbour. The Second World War was over and the troops were coming home. The Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary’s) disembarked and marched up Douglas Street to their regimental headquarters at the Bay Street Armoury. Private Wallace was in the vanguard.1
Wallace, a Saint Bernard, was the Canadian Scots’ mascot who “enlisted” in the regiment in June 1940. Private Wallace became an official member of the Army’s canine corps, service number K5700; he was therefore entitled to draw rations. Wallace accompanied the troops as they crossed the Atlantic Ocean. He served King and Country throughout the war.2
There are several accounts of Wallace’s origin and how he came to join the Canadian Scots.3 It is generally agreed that the big dog was handed over to the regiment by Lieutenant Jack McKay, an officer in the Royal Canadian Ordinance Corps (RCOC). According to Reginald H. Roy, author of Ready for the Fray, the official history of the Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary’s), the Saint Bernard originally belonged to Lieutenant Arthur C. Clelland, who loaned the dog, then about a year old, to his fellow RCOC officer Lieutenant J. G. (Jack) Mackay.4 In June 1940, Mackay passed the Saint Bernard (a breed known to drool, shed and track in dirt and mud), along to the Canadian Scottish 1st Battalion, which was stationed at Macaulay Point camp, across from Work Point Barracks. The battalion promptly adopted the dog (or did he adopt them?) and dubbed him “Wallace.”
Reginald H. Roy, described the unit’s most famous recruit thus: “He never polished a button nor cleaned a rifle, yet was a favourite of the most exacting officer.” Roy added, “he had a serious solemn gravity about him which even a new second lieutenant could not match.”5
The Canadian Scots named their new mascot after their retired Pipe-Major, Alexander “Sandy” Wallace. The big dog soon became a full-fledged member
