Commanding Officer 15th Battalion (48th Highlanders) 1914 – 1915

LCol J.A Currie VD was born in Nottawa and had been with the 48th Highlanders since The Regiment was founded in 1891. In 1892 he was a Captain Company Officer. Prior to the war Currie had been an author, journalist and Member of Parliament for Simcoe North. He was the Commanding Officer of the 48th at the outbreak of the war and subsequently became the first CO of the 15th Battalion C.E.F when it formed at Valcartier in 1914 as part of the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Division.  He took the Battalion to Salisbury, England for initial training before it went to Belgium in February 1915. LCol Currie was replaced as CO after the Canadian’s first major battle at 2nd Ypres and returned to Canada where he was promoted Colonel and made Commandant of Camp Borden.  In 1916 he authored ‘The Red Watch: with the First Canadian Division in Flanders’. Following the war he ran third in the 1921 election for Mayor of Toronto; and between 1922 and 1929 he was the MLA for Toronto Southeast and St Patrick’s. Col Currie died on 28 June 1931 and is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto.