Primary tabs

Canadian Officers Training Corps fonds

Canadian Officers Training Corps fonds

With the outbreak of World War I, the University Council appointed a Committee on Military Instruction which authorized the teaching of military science and tactics. A university corps was organized in the fall semester of the 1914-1915 year with 64 students taking extra classes to qualify as officers. On March 1, 1915, the Canadian Officers Training Corps (C.O.T.C.) of the University of Manitoba was established. Eight companies of 60 men of all ranks were formed with Professor E.P. Fetherstonhaugh as captain and adjutant. In 1915, the Western Universities Battalion was formed with the University of Manitoba contributing one company and one platoon. With the introduction of conscription legislation in 1917, military training was made compulsory for all male students. After the First World War, the C.O.T.C. program was reorganized, in 1920, by Lt. Col. N.B. Maclean, but it continued in relative obscurity for almost twenty years.

With the outbreak of World War II, the C.O.T.C. was quickly revitalized and its membership mushroomed, from its peace time level of 150 to 800. The Senate also passed regulations relating to academic credits or bonuses for students who joined the C.O.T.C. By 1942, all male students were once again required to enlist in a compulsory programme of military training. The C.O.T.C. continued the work of military training on a voluntary basis after World War II with new modernized and attractive programmes, but with the return of peace its popularity rapidly declined.

Grid
List

Pages

: Royal Canadian Air Force Awards, 1963; A photograph of an unidentified man receiving an award at the 1963 RCAF Awards ceremony.

: Royal Canadian Air Force Awards, 1963; A photograph of an unidentified man receiving an award at the 1963 RCAF Awards ceremony.

: Royal Canadian Air Force Awards, 1963; A photograph of a military band in formation at the 1963 RCAF awards ceremony.

: Royal Canadian Air Force Awards, 1963; A photograph of four unidentified COTC members having a conversation at the 1963 RCAF awards ceremony.

: Royal Canadian Air Force Awards, 1963; A photograph of an unidentified officer inspecting a line of troops at the 1963 RCAF awards ceremony.

: Royal Canadian Air Force Awards, 1963; A photograph of an unidentified man receiving an award at the 1963 RCAF awards ceremony.

: Royal Canadian Air Force Awards, 1963; A photograph of COTC members on parade at the 1963 RCAF awards ceremony.

: Royal Canadian Air Force Awards, 1963; A photograph of a room of unidentified officers seated in armchairs and watching a screening of something.

: Royal Canadian Air Force Awards, 1963; A photograph of two unidentified men shaking hands at the 1963 RCAF awards.

: Royal Canadian Air Force Awards, 1963; A photograph of an unidentified man receiving an award at the 1963 RCAF Awards ceremony.

: Royal Roads Military College graduation ceremony, 1958; A photograph of the graduation ceremony at Royal Roads Military College, near Victoria, British Columbia, in 1958. This black-and-white photograph depicts the graduands marching in formation outdoors.

: Tank outside University of Manitoba; A photograph of a tank parked outside the Administration Building at the University of Manitoba. Six young men are sitting on top of the tank.

: Tank outside University of Manitoba; A photograph of a tank parked outside the Administration Building at the University of Manitoba. Six young men are sitting on top of it, while another helps a woman up onto the tank.

: Tank outside University of Manitoba; A photograph of a tank parked outside the Administration Building at the University of Manitoba. Six young men are on top of and inside the body of the tank.

: UM_pc126_A91-035_001_0007_162_0001; The "Military" section of the University of Manitoba's 1942 Brown and Gold yearbook. This eight-page spread features photographs of the various companies of the COTC, information on the COTC and its commanding officers, and candid photographs.

: University of Manitoba COTC members on campus; A photograph of University of Manitoba COTC members lined up in front of the Home Economics and Agriculture buildings at the University's Fort Garry campus.

: W. F. Riddell; A photograph of COTC Commanding Officer W. F. Riddell. This black-and-white portrait was taken sometime during Riddell's tenure as Commanding Officer from 1938-1941.

Pages