The
Ontario Regiment Ferret Club, a part of
the Oshawa Military Industrial Museum,
has come a long way since its founding
in Oshawa over 36 years ago.
The Regiment's Honorary Lieutenant
Colonel, Major (retired) Norman Wilton, an Airborne
veteran of World War II and prominent
business leader, provided the initial
funding for the establishment of a
nine-car troop of Ferret scout cars
procured from Canadian Forces.
A small
group of active and ret'd crewmen,
NCOs and officers came together under
the direction of former Ontarios
Sergeant David Mountenay
(left)
for the purpose of stripping the Ferrets
and restoring them
to parade-ready operational condition.
David served as President of the Ferret
Club for over 25 years and is currently
the Chair of the Museum.
As the
club's membership
and collection expanded so, too, did
its appetite for larger restoration
projects. Jeeps, Sherman and Centurion
tanks soon followed,
as did a series of wheeled vehicles
including GM trucks built in Oshawa
during the war years. The museum also
took possession of several ret'd Canadian APCs,
Lynxes, a Staghound, wreckers, American
M60 tanks, an artillery piece and the actual jeep
used by the late Major Ward Irwin (later Honorary
Lieutenant Colonel of the Regiment)
in theatre during the Italian campaign.
Over
the past three decades, the museum's
collection has grown to include a number
of fully restored
vehicles including several tanks and
tracked vehicles used by the Royal
Canadian Armoured Corps, the Canadian
Forces, and allied forces.
In 1980,
the club set up shop in a two bay garage
formerly located at the intersection of Simcoe St
N and Glover's Rd in Oshawa. The Club
relocated to a dairy farm near Ritson Rd
N and the 8th Concession for a few years
in the mid 1980s.
Before
long, it became necessary to find a
permanent home for the club's rapidly growing
collection. The members felt there was no more
historically appropriate location than the Oshawa
Municipal Airport, home to the Commonwealth Air Training Plan
for allied pilots during the Second World War.
The
airport also served as the dropping-off
point for candidates to Oshawa's then
ultra-secret spy
school Camp 'X'. James Bond's creator,
Ian Fleming, trained there along with
numerous other agents who
played a vital part in the winning
of World War II.
The
Ontarios, past and present, enjoy a long history of
service and gallantry which is
documented and explained in the museum's
static display section. The static
displays were, for many years, housed in
a room at
Parkwood, the home of the Ontario's
storied patron and long-time Honorary
Colonel, Robert Samuel McLaughlin,
founder and president of General Motors
Canada.
The
club and museum are more than just a
showcase of
vintage military vehicles and equipment. The
museological functions of acquisition,
storage, conservation, research,
exhibition also contribute to our
understanding of Canada's military history
during the past three centuries.
Our volunteers,
aided by serving members of the
Regiment, crew and operate vehicles at
nearly every Regimental function,
D-Day and VE-Day commemorations
throughout Ontario, the annual Coe Hill
Labour Day parade, CNE
Warriors' Day parade, and Oshawa's
Fiesta and Remembrance Day parades.
In
honour of our Regiment's contribution to
several United Nations peacekeeping missions
across the globe, we have painted and displayed many of our
vehicles with colours and markings reflecting Canada's half-century
contribution to international
peace-keeping and peace-making
operations.
The
museum also plays a commemorative role
by recalling the human sacrifice of
Canada's servicemen and women over
the past two centuries. As memories of World War
II and the Korean War slowly recede
from living memory, our role of museums
like ours becomes increasingly important.
We
believe that Oshawa's citizens value
these reminders of courage and
personal sacrifice our soldiers but also
the thousands who toiled on the home front
in local industry during two World
Wars. We have restored several vehicles
built in Oshawa's General Motors plants
during World War II and we display many
artefacts related to the local
industrial war effort during 1939-45.
In
keeping with our theme of remembering
the sacrifice of the Canadian
Forces, our volunteers maintain a busy
schedule at the museum. We
maintain a large, fully inventoried
collection of uniforms, non-operational
weapons, medals and artefacts used by
the Canadian Army
and Canadian Forces dating back to the
early 1850s.
Our
collection of medals includes those of
past members of the Ontario Regiment,
such as our Honorary Colonel, RS
McLaughlin, and several highly decorated
Ontarios during conflicts including the Fenian Raids,
Boer War, both World Wars,
the Korean War and modern UN and NATO
operations, including Canada's War in
Afghanistan.
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