Regimental Sergeant Major 4th Princess Louise’s Dragoon Guards (1941-1945)

Platoon and Company Sergeant Major, 1st Battalion, 48th Highlanders (CASF) (1940-1942)

Drum Major 48th Highlanders of Canada (1932-1937)

James E Small tried three times to join the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF)  during World War I. In 1916 he was released from the 182nd Battalion.  His medical described him as having quite a youthful appearance and being underdeveloped at 5 foot 4 1/2 inches in height.  He was released as being medically unfit. Finally on 8-May-17 at  he succeeded in joining the 19th Battalion while serving with the Service Battalion Canada Defence Force (CDF), 48th Highlanders.    Arriving in France he joined the 19th Battalion in spring 1918 and served with them as a Drummer to the end of the War.  Arriving in Toronto , he had reached the height of 5 foot 6 3/4 inches and was discharged on 24 May 1919 and moved to Orillia. He returned to the 48th Highlanders joining the Pipes and Drums.

In 1932 he was appointed Drum Major and in 1936 served as Drum Major when the band travelled to the Chicago Worlds Fair. Later that year he went as Senior Drum Major when HM King Edward VIII dedicated the Vimy Ridge Memorial.  He is quite noticeable in pictures of the event.  Having grown to 6 foot 7 inches he was recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the tallest drum major in the British Empire. In 1921 he joined the Toronto Police Department and was serving as a Detective in 1939 when the 1st Battalion, 48th Highlanders of Canada was mobilized.  He was the first Highlander appointed to the newly created rank of Platoon Sergeant Major (PSM) and sailed in December 1939 on board the Reina del Pacifico.

In January 1941, Major WWG Darling  on leaving the 1st Battalion to become 2IC of the newly formed 4th Recce Regiment being organized as the 1st Canadian Division’s reconnaissance regiment in England, requested that CSM Small be transferred to the newly reconstituted 4th Reconnaissance Regiment (4th Princess Louise’s Dragoon Guards) – as Acting Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM).  He was confirmed as RSM in May 1941 and went to Sicily with the 4th PLDGs in August 1943 and remained with them throughout the Italian Campaign.  After the War he returned to Orillia and served as a Justice of the Peace and Clerk of the District Court. After the War he remained very active in the 48th Highlanders Sergeants Mess and was a founding member of the Continuing Sergeants Association (CSA).