Sports

Recreation was essential to the smooth running of a military base, so the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals, stationed at Vimy Barracks in Kingston, Ontario, organized a sports day and dance every year.

After an afternoon of competition, from running races to horseback wrestling, the men of the 1st Canadian Field Ambulance were treated to a concert put on by the comedy troupe of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.

The Canadian Corps sports day, held in France on 1 July 1918, was one of the most memorable events of the First World War, drawing dignitaries and journalists from across the Western Front. It combined the usual events, such as baseball and athletics, with novelties like the pole pillow fight and a clown competition.

Canada's entrants in the competition, three men from the Royal Canadian Artillery, did not have great success at the 1940 meet in Aldershot, but the event likely provided a welcome diversion from the rigours of training.

No. 5 Canadian General Hospital, organized in Victoria, British Columbia, in June 1915, spent over a year in Greece, providing medical services in support of the Salonika campaign. In May 1916, officers organized a sports day to give doctors, nursing sisters, and staff a respite from their duties.

This booklet, published by the Connaught Park Jockey Club in Aylmer, Quebec, argues against the wartime suspension of horse-racing in Canada.

A large crowd was on hand to watch two Canadian soldiers contest the boxing championship at Seaford, a military camp in southern England, in April 1919.

The 54th (Kootenay) Battalion, raised in Nelson, British Columbia, fielded a very successful soccer team during the First World War.

Early 1945 saw Canadian military and local teams battling on the ice at Paisley, with the Canadian teams featuring talent from the NHL.