A Langley resident played a prominent role at the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada’s annual Ortona Dinner being celebrated at their temporary home in Jericho Garrison in Vancouver.
Grace Madill, 81, of Sidney and her daughter Carol Madill of Langley gave an important memento of the First World War to the regiment at the annual dinner.
They gave Grace’s father, Company Sergeant Major George Hilton Soles’ Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) (two bars), which he received for outstanding gallantry in action during the First World War.
It will be preserved and displayed in the Seaforth museum.
George Soles enlisted with The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada in Victoria in 1915, and went on to fight with exceptional bravery. winning the DCM three times. He was the only Canadian ever to do so.
The DCM was the second-highest award for valour given, and is directly below the Victoria Cross.
Each Christmas, the Seaforth Highlanders gather to mark the Battle of Ortona during the Second World War, and cadets sponsored by the Seaforths do the same (see photo).
On Dec. 24, 1943, Captain Cameron of the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada and his men arranged an elaborate dinner in a church in the embattled town of Ortona. With white table cloths, soup, pork and Christmas pudding, each soldier also received a bottle of beer, fruits, nuts, candies and cigarettes.
In order to maintain their aggressive advance, individual companies ate dinner in rotations, each enjoying the festive celebration and then returning to the front to relieve the next. This set forth the foundation for an annual tradition that is maintained to this day, and the dinner menu is much the same as the Second World War original.