Photos, letters highlight 100-year history of Vancouver Island regiment

VICTORIA – Photographs, letters and memorabilia help tell the story of a 100-year-old Vancouver Island regiment in a new exhibition at the Royal BC Museum.

The Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary’s) has served in UN and NATO missions in the former Yugoslavia and Afghanistan.

Dating back to its origins in 1912 as the 88th Regiment (Victoria Fusiliers), its history also includes action at Vimy in the First World War and Normandy on D-Day in the Second.

Six Victoria crosses, and the stories they carry with them, are featured, as well as bagpipes that belonged to 20-year-old piper James Richardson who died in battle in 1916. The pipes were repatriated to Victoria in 2006 after being discovered in a school in Scotland.

The exhibition, produced jointly by the regiment and the museum, runs from Oct. 20 to Dec. 2.