Shortly after I became the Regimental Sergeant Major of the Queen's Own Rifles a group of Senior Non-Commisioned Officers, including the RSM, from the Voltigeurs du Quebec came to Toronto to see our Change of Command parade. They were interested in seeing "Rifle Drill". The foot drill movements we do are slightly different than the standard Canadian Army drill. The Voltigeurs wanted to see the way we do it because they are also a Rifle Regiment and should be doing it too but over the years they had lost their "corporate knowledge". The group that came were interested in restarting Rifle Drill within their regiment.

A year later they were holding a Change of Command parade of their own. Their RSM invited me to come and watch it. Terri and I drove to Quebec City and spent four days touring the old city and enjoying ourselves.

We stayed in a nice little Bed and Breakfast just outside of the gate to the old city. Our first stop was to visit the Voltiguers on their training night in the Melange Militare (their Armoury). We said hello to the RSM and a couple of NCOs we knew but we did not want to interfere with what they were doing so we left.

The next day we went to the tourist office to get some ideas about what to see and do while we were in the city. We took a tour of the Citidel and the Plains of Abraham. That night we did a "Ghost Walk" around the old city where the guide told stories about some of the scarier things that had happened there.

The high point of the trip was the parade by the Voltiguers. Their traditions are, of course, a little different then ours, but the parade looked really good. Their troops had learned the drill well and it looked like they had been doing it for years.

Just before we left the city we went to visit a Fire Station on the outskirts of town. One of the Voltigeurs we met was also a Ville de Quebec Firefighter. He gave us a tour of his station and showed us some of their trucks and equipment.

We drove home late, stopping in Montreal for dinner with our friend Roman. An accident had closed the highway and cause a very slow detour that cost us a lot of time. By the time we made it to Kingston we were both beat. We stopped at a truck stop to get some snacks and use the washroom. I suggested that we just sleep in the car for a few hours and drive home in daylight. We found a dark quiet spot and I was just about to go to sleep when a police car pulled up. We explained the situation to the officer and he said it was ok, he just had to check out any cars parked off the road. When the sun came up we drove home.

Return to Home Page

Here are the stories of other travelling I have done:

• England, France and Scotland
• Juno Beach Centre, France
• Voltigeurs du Quebec
• Paris, France
• The West Coast Trail