As Kevin Harrison took in the 676 Lorne Scots Cadets anniversary show Wednesday evening, he had his eyes peeled for “the smallest cadet on parade.”
“I thought, 'That's how tall I was when I joined [the cadets],'” Harrison said.
In a sense, he made history when he enrolled in the group back in 1973. He was the second person ever to don the uniform of the 676 Lornes. On June 1 of that year, the unit was revived in its current form.
Last night, he watched his beloved unit celebrate a half-century of training and tradition at the Col. J. R. Barber Armoury. The anniversary celebration was combined with their annual review, where they paraded and were given awards. This year, they assembled a drill team to show their discipline and precision as part of the celebration.
“I'm just so proud. And it's not just about today - it's about all of the effort that went into the preparation for today,” Capt. Cara Lacey, commanding officer of the regiment, told HaltonHillsToday.
In her address to the cadets, she told them that they were bonded together, worked hard as a team and proved themselves to be strong leaders.
“All these kids have the potential to be that,” Harrison agreed with Lacey. “If they can get them at this age and educate them and train them and teach them discipline, drill, dress, deportment, these type of things, they will become better Canadians and better citizens.”
The cadet corp has changed immensely since Harrison’s time. When he joined 676 Lorne Scots, he quickly became the highest-ranking member in the unit – a lance corporal. That is the equivalent of a private now.
“We just started the corps; it was brand new. We all had nothing on our shoulders. Nobody was any rank at all,” Harrison recalled.
The uniforms were a version of the army uniform from the Second World War, which Harrison said he and his comrades called “itchy and scratchy.”
“Just terrible material to wear,” Harrison laughed. “We used to have to put soap in creases of the pants. We had weights in the bottom of our pants to keep them nice and tight.”
“If it rained, the pants started to bubble,” he added.
The arms they trained on were different as well. Harrison remembers having to use the Lee-Enfield rifle and the Bren light machine gun. Both were well out-of-date by then. Due to his small stature at the time, firing the Bren meant the gun's odd recoil dragged him forward instead of backwards.
“The instructor grabbed me by my belt and pulled me back because I kept sliding forward,” Harrison said.
In his address to the cadets, he passed on some words of wisdom.
"Say what you mean, mean what you say, follow through. If you make a mistake, own it. It's nobody's fault but your own. Then go to your superiors, tell them what you did and give them the solution. That's leadership."
At next year's review, Capt. Lacey will be passing the commanding officer's torch onto someone else. That occasion will be marked with a change of command parade.