The Regimental Museum

Article by Francis Racine
Le Journal, Cornwall
8 June 2016

Hidden deep within the walls of the mysterious Cornwall Armouries is one of the city's best kept secret.

The SD&G Highlanders Regimental Museum may be less than 2000 square feet in size, but don't let its size fool you. The door to the small space creaks as Léon Chamois, the military historian who is at the helm of the SD&G Highlanders Regimental
Museum, pushes it in. He switches the lights on and suddenly, rare pieces of history
appear: helmets, original uniforms as well as reproductions and countless rifles and
medals, all neatly displayed behind tall glass showcases that are located on every wall of
the small museum.

"We have a lot of different artifacts," he said, pointing to mannequins standing
motionless behind the showcases. All of them sport different kinds of uniforms of
several eras.

Even though the museum's collection contains several hundreds of artifacts, the
curator, who has now been in charge of the institution for 23 years, stressed that it will
never be complete. There are simply too many artifacts located around the world.
"The funds allocated to us by the Canadian Armed Forces aren't meant to be used to buy
artifacts,'' he explained. "It's an odd choice, but I can understand why. The army could
spend millions every year on artifacts, but there would always be more. The world is
filled with them.''

"The funds allocated to us by the Canadian Armed Forces aren't meant to be used to buy artifacts;' he explained."It's an odd choice, but I can understand why. The army could spend millions every year on artifacts, but there would always be more. The world is filled with them:'

Instead, Chamois recently spoke to the United Counties council in order to seek
funding from them, which could in turn be used to obtain interesting and priceless items. "Last year, they gave us $5000 and it really came in handy,'' the curator added, smiling. Upon completing his sentence, he walked towards the back of the museum and
pointed upwards.

Most interesting pieces
Held up by small custom made metal frames, stands an old, dark green bicycle of
which the likes can't be bought at too many places. Chamois has an air of pride as he
walks towards it. "This is a foldable bicycle that was used during the Highlander's D-Day landings,'' he boasted.

The SD & G Highlanders were part of the second wave landing during D-Day. They carried with them several pounds of gear their weapons and foldable bicycles.

"They had been training with them for a long time in Britain,'' explained Chamois.
"They were supposed to use them to go far in France.''

But the bikes weren't well liked by the soldiers, he explained. They abandoned
nearly all of them on the beach. "There were supposedly hundreds of them,'' he said.
"Young French boys and girls used them for several years after the war.''

But these bicycles have become quite valuable and rare. "I always wanted to get
one for the museum," Chamois admitted. "But I couldn't find one for the longest time.
Some were for sale in Europe, but they were about 2000 euros, which end up being a lot
of Canadian dollars once it's shipped here.''

Instead, the curator inquired about one in Calgary. "I told one of my friends to check out pictures of it and tell me what he thought about it,'' admitted Chamois. "I didn't know anything about them.''

His friend then proceeded to tell him the man selling the bicycle was asking too
much and besides, the one he was selling was cheaper and in better quality. "That
caught me off guard,'' the curator declared, smiling. "It really did. So we talked on the
phone and not before long, it was in the museum.''

The artifact is located next to other pieces that have a connection to the D-Day landings. There's also a helmet, boots and a belt, all neatly placed on a nearby mannequin,

When asked what the museum's most prized possession is, Chamois pondered for
a minute. "I always get asked that question, believe it or not.''

Suddenly, he turned around towards a wooden flat surface. On it was a small
brown frame, with seven medals placed within it. "This is something extraordinary,''
he claimed.

The spotless medals belong to Lieutenant Corporal George G. Pollard, an SD & G
Highlander that was murdered after being captured by German forces serving under
Major General Kurt Meyer.

During the evening of June 7, 1944, 11 Canadian prisoners of war were shot in the back of the head. At Meyer's war crimes trial in December 1945, he was found guilty of inciting his troops to commit murder.

Ten of the deceased soldiers were found and given proper burial. Only Pollard's
remains have yet to be discovered. Instead, his family members donated his medals to
the museum. "This is a memorial for him,'' Chamois confided."In essence, it's sort of
his unknown grave.''

A museum with serious firepower
The museum consists of two sides, the first and bigger one containing mostly
uniforms and accessories and the second one being home to countless firearms.

A quick walk through it confirms that the museum could indeed fend off an invading army. "They have been deactivated to some extent,'' he mentioned, as he walked between the ceiling's high glass showcases.

Behind the glass are several Canadian, British, German and other foreign weapons. Ranging from handguns, to bayonets, rifles and machine guns, the weapons are all neatly showcased and cleaned.

"Most of them were donations,'' expressed the curator."We've actually only bought a few.''

With the advent of stricter rules on firearms, several gun owners decided to
turn in their weapons to the museum instead of dealing with all the paperwork.

The museum has been operating since the 1950s and doesn't show any signs of
slowing down. "We're hoping to expand soon,'' indicated Chamois."We started with
a small space and we keep receiving more room. We've been called Cornwall's best
kept secret. I like it!"