For more than fifty years, the University of Toronto supported the largest and most active contingent of the Canadian Officers’ Training Corps.
Now, a new book, Varsity’s Soldiers, by Eric McGeer, based on the rich fund of documents housed in the university archives, offers the first full-length history of military training in Toronto.
The role of Canadian universities in selecting and training officers for the armed forces is an important yet overlooked chapter in the history of higher education in Canada.
Beginning with the formation of a student rifle company in 1861, and focussing on the story of the COTC from 1914 to 1968, author Eric McGeer seeks to enlarge appreciation of the university’s remarkable contribution to the defence of Canada, the place of military education in an academic setting, and the experience of the students who embodied the ideal of service to alma mater and to country.
Table of contents
Introduction
1. “Old K”: The University Rifle Company and Its Legacy, 1861-1914
2. Born and Raised In War: The University of Toronto Contingent, 1914-1919
3. Soldiering on In Peacetime: The University of Toronto Contingent, 1919-1939
4. “The Child of The Last War”: The University of Toronto Contingent, 1939-1945
5. A Vital Link: The University of Toronto Contingent, 1945-1968
Varsity’s Soldiers is published by University of Toronto Press. Amazon.ca provides a ‘look inside’ the book. It is also available online at Indigo and Archambault.
