Otter LRC CM4647296 comes home

[Jordan Baker]

Pretty awesome break through in the Otter today. It was known to have served with the Canadian Army in NWE during the Second World War. However it’s unit was unknown until this afternoon. I’m pretty confident to say that it served with the 3rd Infantry Brigade Company, Royal Canadian Army Service Corps, 1st Canadian Infantry Division.

It took me about 2 hours of careful scraping but I found its Unit Sign and Formation Sign under the layers of paint. The Unit Sign is a red/green square split diagonally with a white 73 on it. The Formation Sign is a red rectangle with the remains of the top half of the yellow maple leaf. The green on the Unit Sign is very distinctive from the other greens but also very very fragile. The white and the red were very robust.

[Jordan Baker]

Here is the Formation Sign. It’s clearly a red rectangle. The remains of the white paint are unknown but they are on Upper layers of paint. I used acetone on some paper towels and the white cane away to reveal a very faint yellow.

[David Dunlop]

Well done, Jordan!

One step closer to perhaps finding wartime photos of her and maybe even her crew.

David

[Ed Storey]

Nice discovery! Having a vehicle which actually served overseas with the Canadian Army during the war is I think an important historical item to own. Glad to see that it is in the right hands.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Jordan,

Excellent! My first thought when seeing the red square, white and yellow....was the 1st Canadian Corps Formation sign....but that wouldn't match up with the red/green AoS, so 1st Canadian Infantry does indeed sound more logical.

Have you checked the panel under the front armour/grille to see if there are any additional markings? Also the plate on the rear axle?

Awesome work.....always great to find back some of the history of a vehicle....and armed with census number and unit, you might be able to find out more!

Attached are two random Otter pics taken in Holland, 1945.

"fast" Otter is Utrecht, 3rd Infantry Division, source: https://hetutrechtsarchief.nl/
"decapitated" Otter is Rotterdam, 1st Infantry Division, source: https://collecties.stadsarchief.rotterdam.nl

Alex

X108347-E1460.jpg Otter Rotterdam.jpg