Veterans Guard Reserve, Shilo Camp

[Preston Isaac]

Whilst turning out a box folder of paperwork and photos I bought many years ago I came across this one. What I thought made it rather special was that they were all named on the back. Perhaps somebody on the Forum will have a connection ?
Preston Isaac

[Tony Smith]

Only one weapon to go around! But what is that weapon?

[rob love]

It looks like an M50 Reising, although the one in the photo has the sling swivel on the side instead of the bottom.

[maple_leaf_eh]

I notice how local the places of death are to Shilo. Brandon is the next closest civilization (which some would question).

I was told these units were used as prison camp and vital point guards. I found this link describing the PoW role. https://powsincanada.ca/veterans-guard-of-canada/ This magazine article describes the type of work they did in the camps. https://archive.macleans.ca/article/...ught-in-canada Here is a list of official records at Library and Archives https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/...142.27.004.pdf .

My father told a story about a German who went over the fence at a camp in Sherbrooke, Quebec (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...amps_in_Canada) and struck out for Maine and the Atlantic Coast on foot. He managed to get quite a ways away by walking on the road, even though they were hemmed in with snowbanks. However, a small town cop who was a WW1 veteran noticed something was odd about how he was walking. The quote was, 'He marches like a German.' The cop pulled alongside and pointed his pistol the car window. The escapee surrendered. So familiarity with ones enemy wasn't a wasted experience.