Gilles Turcot

From left to right: Turcot, Maj. Gen. J. M. Rockingham (Western Command, Canada), and Col. R. H. Safford (Chief of Staff, USARAL) Lieutenant-General Gilles-Antoine Turcot (9 December 1917 – 15 December 2010) was the Commander, Mobile Command of the Canadian Forces.

Military career Educated at the Séminaire de Québec and Université Laval, Turcot enlisted in the Canadian Militia in 1935.

He served in World War II, joining Royal 22e Régiment, part of the 1st Canadian Division under Major General Andrew McNaughton, in 1939. After training in England for several years and defending the coast, the Regiment was sent in on the Allied invasion of Sicily, where Turcot was injured. He later fought as a company commander in Eastern Italy, notably at the bitterly fought Battle of Ortona where his regiment was out-numbered but held off a determined German attack aimed at encircling the 1st Canadian Division. He was promoted to command the Regiment when it was redeployed to fight in the liberation of Holland, liberating several Dutch towns.

After the war, he attended the Canadian Army Staff College and later the Imperial Defence College in London. In 1952 he was appointed Director of Military Operations and Planning at National Defence Headquarters and in 1957 he was transferred to the International Commission for Supervision and Control of Laos. Subsequent to retirement he led the administration of the Montreal Olympics and later served as Honorary Colonel of the Royal 22e Régiment.

Family He married Helen Mitchell and had two daughters.