In Memoriam

Al Laing

Many of you will remember Alan Laing, who was a musketman in Duncan’s Coy for many years. We received word this week that Al passed away on July 14, after a valiant battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife Caroline and daughter Danielle, who were both Followers in the regiment, and by his son David, who served as a Yorker drummer.

In more recent times Al was a bass drummer in the Fergus Pipe Band, and became a key organizer of the Annual Fergus Highland Games. He was instrumental in getting the Loyalist Fifes & Drums and the Yorkers into the Friday evening tattoo last summer.

Al was known for his great sense of humour and his easy-going manner, which made him a popular guy in the regiment. He will be missed by all who knew him.

Capt Dave Putnam

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Finn Nielsen

FOUNDING MEMBER, FINN NIELSEN DIED WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2008

After a three-year, incredibly hard fought battle with “cancer of everywhere”, Finn succumbed this Wednesday in hospital. His spirits throughout his ordeal were indomitable. His wonderful sense of humour, internal toughness and fatalism never wavered.

Of the Royal Yorkers’ five original members, A/5 Finn is the second to have passed on; he was predeceased by his very close friend, A/3 Tom Dugelby about six years ago. Of course, those “A” rack numbers had real meaning in the early days of the Colonel’s Company – just ask Al Joyner, Peter Johnson or Reg James.

Finn was an amazing character. He emigrated from Denmark as a child and lived in a tiny house with dirt floors in Pottageville, very close to present day, Schloss McGeachie. He had a remarkable capability to learn and his capability with English, spelling and use of punctuation, would put a great many Canadian-born individuals to shame. He was a voracious reader, especially of military history. It is often claimed that this guy or that guy, has an encyclopedic memory. Well, it was true of Finn when details about late 19th, 20th and 21st Century small arms were concerned. He simply could not be stumped.

When Finn finished High School, he worked for a time in a nursery, but that was far too calm for an adventurous Viking like Nielsen, so he joined the 2nd battalion, Canadian Guards (known by some as the Canadian SS, as there were so many German veterans in the battalion.) He saw service in Cyprus as a Lance Corporal on a light machine gun (C2-A1 for you gun nuts) and lost his stripe when he wanted his section leader to get out of the way so he could cut down some arrogant Cypriot who was waving a Sten gun at them.

Finn got out of the army when the Guards were disbanded. He was incredulous that the government could be so stupid as to reduce an elite formation. For those of us who follow military affairs, our governments are unfortunately very good at doing stupid things with the Armed Forces.

When Finn went to an employment agency, he was greeted with open arms, as so many soldiers are equipped with skilled trades they learned in the army that they can peddle for a big buck, but, when asked what his trade was, he said “machine gunner”, which oddly enough didn’t impress the interviewer. So, like so many retired soldiers, Finn entered the Toronto Police service; however, the BS discipline got him down. In his opinion, it was worse than the Guards, and to no purpose. So, he left the Police and got hired on as a Firearms’ Examiner at the Ontario Centre of Forensic Sciences and, that’s how Service Rifle got to know him, as Ed Anderson was in the same department. Yes, that’s A/2 Ed Anderson, another founding member of the Yorkers.

Finn joined Service Rifle about 1967 as that organization’s 17th member. When the Royal Yorkers were being formed in 1974, Finn bought in. The KRR made its first appearance in 1975 and the first photograph shows handsome Finn at Quebec City on October 4 for the 200th anniversary of the failed rebel attack on the city.

Finn and A/4 Wayne Heideman were both great comedians with very sharp tongues and ready wits, so there was nothing boring about those first few years. Finn retired from the unit after about five years. The second photo shows Finn and the red-bearded Wayne ready to move into battle for the 200th anniversary commemoration of the Royal Yorkers’ bloodiest engagement at Oriskany. Looking at their threatening visages, one can see that the rebels didn’t find much humour there.

I often thought that Dugelby, Heideman and Nielsen were in the Yorkers just to humour Ed Anderson and I, who were both very serious about the history being represented. But whatever the motivation of those three, us five guys put the KRR NY on the reenacting map and set the tone for what has become an amazingly enduring and accomplished organization.

Although Finn’s been gone from the Yorkers for a long time, he always remained a very close friend of mine and will be greatly missed by all those who knew him well.

Gavin Watt