Commanding Officer 48th Highlanders of Canada 1964-1967

Honorary Colonel 48th Highlanders of Canada 1988-1992

Commander Toronto Militia District 1974-1976

Corporal – The Royal Canadian Regiment 1944-1945

John Montgomery Lowndes was born on 8-May-1926 in Toronto.  He  graduated from St Andrews College in 1941 and was awarded the JL Wright Cup for the best Upper School Cadet. He joined the Army Service Corps in May 1942, transferred to the 48th Highlanders of Canada on May 1943 at the age of 17. When he turned 18, he transferred to The Royal Canadian Regiment, training in Brantford and Borden.  In 1945 Cpl John Lowndes volunteered for the Pacific Theatre and was sent to Fort Benning for training. When the war ended he returned to Toronto and attended the University of Toronto from 1946 to 1949. when he was called to the Ontario Bar. He practiced law for 53 years, retiring in 2006 as a Queen’s Counsel (QC).

While at University of Toronto he joined the Canadian Officers Training Corps (COTC) from 1946 to 1948 and re-joined the 48th Highlanders as a Lieutenant in 1949 and in April 1964 became Commanding Officer. Unit training during this time included preparation for operations under the threats to national survival under  the nuclear threat often referred to by soldiers as the “snakes and ladders era”. It also saw creation of the Student Militia Training Programme (SMTP) that provided the main source of trained recruits for the next 20 years.  During his tenure the Regiment celebrated its 75th Anniversary with a  major reunion and was granted the Freedom of the City of Toronto on the forecourt of Toronto’s new city hall. When he gave up command in April 1967 he had set the conditions that would see the modern unit thrive which would include winning the Gzowski Trophy for the most proficient Militia Infantry unit in Canada for 1965/66 and 1966/67, the first 2 of 5 consecutive years.  In 1974 he was called out of retirement and appointed Commander, Toronto Militia District (TMD) and served in that appointment until 1976. Proud to have earned his parachute wings in 1975 he was referred to himself as a “geriatric jumper” (having completed the qualification at the age of 50) when he retired for a second time in 1976. Any Highlander who served with him during his 50 years in the Highlanders remembers him as a dynamic leader who led by example with a relaxed sense of purpose and style that set the tone for those who followed and who never seemed to age. In 1988 he was appointed Honorary Colonel of his Regiment and gave up that that appointment following  the 48th Highlanders of Canada 100th anniversary celebrations.   He died at the age of 90.