137th "Overseas" Battalion, CEF
Cap badge
Active1915–1917
Disbanded1917
CountryCanada
BranchCanadian Expeditionary Force
TypeInfantry
Battle honoursThe Great War, 1916–17
Commanders
Commanding officerLt-Col G.W. Morfitt
Shoulder title

The 137th Battalion, CEF, was a unit in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War. Based in Calgary, Alberta, the unit began recruiting in late 1915 in that city. After sailing to England in August 1916, the battalion was absorbed into the 21st Reserve Battalion on January 10, 1917.

The 137th Battalion, CEF, had one officer commanding: Lieutenant-Colonel G.W. Morfitt.[1]

The perpetuation of the battalion was assigned in 1920 to the 5th Battalion, the Calgary Regiment. When the regiment was split in 1924, the perpetuation passed to the 3rd Battalion, the Calgary Regiment. This regiment, now the King's Own Calgary Regiment (RCAC), still perpetuates the 137th Battalion, CEF.[2]

In 1967, members of the 137th Battalion CEF Association raised funds and erected a memorial to the unit on the west side of North Glenmore Park, in Calgary. Members of the King's Own Calgary Regiment commemorate the sacrifices of their fallen comrades each Remembrance Day by sending a contingent to the memorial and conducting a small ceremony of remembrance.

The 137th (Calgary) Battalion CEF is one of only four units whose glyphs survive on the hillside at Battalion Park in the neighbourhood of Signal Hill, Calgary.

References

  1. ↑ "Officers' Declaration Paper of G.W. Morfitt". Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  2. ↑ "The King's Own Calgary Regiment (RCAC)". Official Lineages Volume 3, Part 1: Armour, Artillery and Field Engineer Regiments – Armour Regiments. Directorate of History and Heritage. Retrieved 9 April 2017.

Suggested Reading on the 137th Battalion including Harvey Daniel Duncan's diary of camp life and war on the battlefield.

  • Bagley, Fred and Duncan, Dr. Harvey Daniel A Legacy of Courage "Calgary's Own" 137th Overseas Battalion, C.E.F. 1993
  • Meek, John F. Over the Top! The Canadian Infantry in the First World War. Orangeville, Ont.: The Author, 1971.
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