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The 5th (British Columbia) Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery is a Primary Reserve artillery regiment located in Victoria, British Columbia, at the Bay Street Armoury. The 5th (BC) Field Regiment is part of the 39 Canadian Brigade Group one of three brigade groups of Land Force Western Area in the west of Canada.

History
The possibility of British involvement in the American Civil War in 1861 created concern in Victoria. In response, one hundred and thirty-one men enrolled in the Vancouver Island Volunteer Rifle Corps comprised a Rifle Company and an Artillery Company. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877 created even greater concern because the harbours of Victoria and Esquimalt were undefended. Beginning on June 10, 1878, four coast batteries were constructed; the task was completed on August 30, 1878. To serve these batteries, a Militia Order on July 19, 1878 authorized the formation of the Victoria Battery of Garrison Artillery. Primary role was the defence of Victoria and Esquimalt from seaborne attack.

This was the beginning of the 5th Regiment’s gunner history. Volunteers from the 5th Regiment formed part of “A” Company, 2nd (Special Service) Battalion, the Royal Canadian Regiment in South Africa from 1899 to 1902. The Paardeberg Memorial inside the Bay Street entrance to the Armoury pays homage to the unit’s first casualties. During the Great War (1914-1919), 777 officers and men of the 5th Regiment served in overseas units of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Most notable among them was General Sir Arthur W. Currie, who began his career as a gunner in the 5th Regiment ultimately commanding the unit and subsequently rose in rank to General to command the Canadian Army overseas.

The call to arms for World War II on August 26, 1939 saw, by midnight of that day, all the batteries of the Victoria-Esquimalt Fortress being manned by the officers and men of the 5th (British Columbia) Coast Brigade, RCA. By the end of the war some 7,000 men passed through the brigade to serve in units overseas. Meanwhile, local gunners continued their lonely vigil, keeping the West Coast secure.

When the call to arms sounded again in 1950 for service overseas during the Korean “police action”, men from the Regiment answered. Later they also served with United Nations units in Egypt, on the Gaza Strip, in Cyprus and the Former Yugoslavia, as well as in combat with NATO forces in over five rotations in Afghanistan.

The 5th Regiment has been called upon to perform duties “in aid of the civil power”, assisting in maintaining law and order during the coal strikes at Wellington in 1890 and at Nanaimo in 1913. They were involved in recovery operations following the Point Ellice Bridge disaster of 1896, and in 1948 they helped to build and maintain the sandbag dikes to control flooding in the Fraser Valley. In 1996 the Regiment was called out to assist in medical evacuation during the blizzard that winter, and most recently soldiers and officers participated in Operation PODIUM, providing support to the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

The 5th Regiment provides the official saluting battery for Victoria. The unit has fired salutes for visiting Royalty, for Graduation Parades of the Royal Roads Military College and for the official opening of each session of the Provincial Legislature, a custom, which originated on July 29, 1878.

Recognition of more than 100 years of service took place on Sunday, November 4, 1979, when the 5th (British Columbia) Field Battery, RCA proudly accepted the Freedom of the City of Victoria. On Friday the 13th of September 1991, the regiment once again was raised to regimental status and designated the 5th (British Columbia) Field Artillery Regiment RCA. The young men and women of the unit proudly wear the Gunner badge in the oldest continuously serving gunner reserve unit west of the Great Lakes.