History: World War II
When war broke out in 1939 Lt. Col. W.G. Stillman, commanding officer of the unit, was ordered to mobilize the unit and recruit to full strength under the official name of the Edmonton Regiment. As in the First World War, men were recruited from as far north as the Peace River country. Under his command the unit marched out of the city on 5 December, 1939, and landed in Scotland on 30 December, after spending Christmas of 1939 on the Atlantic Ocean.
During the next few months the Edmonton‘s trained and moved all over England as a battalion of the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division, wearing the red divisional patch. In this brigade were the PPCLI and Seaforth Highlanders of Canada, from Vancouver. The brigade commander was G.R. Pearkes, VC. They were ordered to Norway and to France, but both of these operations were cancelled before the move could be completed. In 1941, D Company went to Spitzbergen under the command of the late Maj. W.G. Bury, DSO, and other specialists went under the command of Maj. A.S. Donald, DSO, where they captured and destroyed German meteorological and signal stations and valuable coal mines.
