OTTAWA, TODAY – Mr. Stéphane Ouellette, Founder and President, Colonel John Gardam Lifetime Achievement Award Institute, was joined by members of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Ottawa Police Service (OPS), veterans' organizations, diplomatic corps, and the general public in commemorating the 107th anniversary of the Battle of Moreuil Wood.

On October 9, 1918, Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians) fought their last battle of the First World War. Having been in reserve since August 1918, the Strathcona’s, and the other two cavalry Regiments of the Canadian Cavalry Brigade were rushed to the front to exploit a penetration made in German defences. In just one day, the Brigade advanced ten kilometers (on a five kilometer front), captured four hundred prisoners and numerous weapons, and cleared the villages of Clary, Bois de Gattigny, and Bois du Mont–Auxvilles. Among members of the Canadian Cavalry Brigade and the Strathcona’s, this “final battle” probably brought recollection of a similar, yet more intense fight the previous spring: The Battle of Moreuil Wood on March 30, 1918.

The Battle of Moreuil Wood was part of the wider Allied effort to stem the German Offensive (Operation Michael) in the spring of 1918 in the area of Amiens, France.

Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians), as part of the Canadian Cavalry Brigade, encountered and defeated a large German force of four times their number at Moreuil Wood on March 30, 1918. Losses to men and horses were extremely high with 53 of 75 Strathcona’s of the charging Squadron, killed or wounded; but the mission was accomplished. The Squadron Commander, Lieutenant Gordon Flowerdew, was awarded (posthumously) the Victoria Cross for his leadership on that day.

The Battle of Moreuil Wood was to be the last great cavalry charge in Canadian Army history, and among the last of such actions in British and Commonwealth warfare. Lt.–Col. D.J. Macdonald (from Williamstown, Ontario) and Pte. Albert Dale (from Alexandria, Ontario, and a native of Essex England) both fought valiantly in this epic battle for freedom.