Theme Collections
Cape Breton Highlanders
Photos and Photo Postcards - WW2 – Northwest Europe – 1945-1946
Photos
This section contains six photos pertaining to the Cape Breton Highlanders during their movement through southern France and into Belgium, after arriving from the Italian theatre of operations. This part of Europe had already been liberated. The battalion was billeted in Belgium for most of March, 1945.
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Major Sylvester (Syl) MacKinnon
Cape Breton Highlanders
Cape Breton Highlander Major Sylvester (Syl) MacKinnon, from Sydney, NS, stands in front of a jeep. The photo is believed to have been taken in France. Note the vertical bar afixed to the front bumper of the jeep. This was a field modification to protect the jeep’s occupants from wires that the retreating Germans would sometimes string across roads to decapitate drivers.
Major MacKinnon was awarded a Distinguished Service Order for his courage and leadership during the assault crossing of the Lamone River, Italy, in December, 1944, the fighting for the town of San Alberto, Italy, in January, 1945, and the breakout from the Arnhem bridgehead, Holland, in April, 1945. He became commanding officer of the Cape Breton Highlanders in June of 1945, and brought the battalion home.
Photographer: Unknown
Ref. Number: 0-1 (7-4.2)
Image Information: Scan of original photo
Source: Cape Breton Highlanders Museum, Sydney, NS, 2014
Unidentified Cape Breton Highlander
Belgium
Circa March, 1945
Unidentified Cape Breton Highlander at a Canadian World War 1 memorial in Belgium, circa March, 1945. This photo is the first in a sequence of three photos taken at this location. The group of soldiers on the right and in the background are not Cape Breton Highlanders, but are from another Canadian unit.
Photographer: Unknown
Ref. Number: 0-1 (7-1.2)
Image Information: Scan of original photo
Source: Cape Breton Highlanders Museum, Sydney, NS, 2014
Unidentified Cape Breton Highlanders
Belgium
Circa, March, 1945
Unidentified Cape Breton Highlanders at a Canadian World War 1 memorial in Belgium, circa March, 1945. This photo is the second in a sequence of three photos taken at this location.
Photographer: Unknown
Ref. Number: 0-1 (7-2.2)
Image Information: Scan of original photo
Source: Cape Breton Highlanders Museum, Sydney, NS, 2014
Unidentified Cape Breton Highlanders
Belgium
Circa March, 1945
Unidentified Cape Breton Highlanders at a Canadian World War 1 memorial in Belgium, circa March, 1945. This photo is the third in a sequence of three photos taken at this location.
Photographer: Unknown
Ref. Number: 0-1 (7-3.2)
Image Information: Scan of original photo
Source: Cape Breton Highlanders Museum, Sydney, NS, 2014
Cape Breton Highlanders Pipe Band
Belgium
Circa March, 1945
The pipe band of the Cape Breton Highlanders play in a town in Belgium, circa March, 1945. In the foreground, left to right, are Piper John J. MacMillan from Reserve Mines, NS; Piper John A. MacDonnell of Inverness, NS; and Pipe Major Bill Gillis also of Inverness, NS. Behind Pipe Major Gillis is Piper Archie Allan MacKay, also from Inverness, NS.
Photographer: Unknown
Ref. Number: 0-1 (7-19.2)
Image Information: Scan of original photo
Source: Cape Breton Highlanders Museum, Sydney, NS, 2014
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Cape Breton Highlanders Pipe Band
Watou, Belgium
Circa March, 1945
Standing, Left to Right:
1. Drummer Melvin MacLean, Sydney Mines, NS
2. Piper Major William “Willie” Gillis, Inverness, NS
3. Piper John Joseph “Piper” MacMillan, Reserve Mines, NS
4. Piper John Angus MacDonnell, Inverness, NS
5. Piper MacInnis
6. Piper Archie Allan MacKay, New Waterford, NS
7. George Sutherland, Soldiers Cove, NS
8. Danny Gillis, Glencoe, NS
9. Cooper, Truro
Kneeling, left to Right:
1. Drummer Bobby Boyd
2. Drummer Chuck Williams, PEI
3. Drummer Dan MacDonald, Sydney, NS
4. Drummer Clarence Hunt, North Sydney, NS
5. Drummer MacDonald
6. Drummer Judson
Photographer: Unknown
Ref. Number: 17-1 (1.2)
Image Information: Scan of original photo
Source: Brian Chisholm, Saint John, NB, 2017