Who Are These Members? – Part II

Last week, we sent out the following photograph seeking Veteran assistance in identifying the two members in the photograph.

September 1958 – Photograph of two mounted RCMP members on duty at the Canadian Parliament Hill. (Source of photo – Fred Stark).

This photograph of two mounted members on Parliament Hill was recently sent to us by Veteran Fred Stark who was scanning some of his old photographs. He believed the photo was taken in 1958.

Of course the search was on, who are the two members?   I have received several messages from former Musical Ride members and they believe the rider on the right is a young Patrick Joseph Clifford “Cliff” Morin, Reg # 15490/Officer # O.634.

Veteran Russ Juby, Reg # 23564/O.1411, of Whitehorse, Yukon, who served on the Musical Ride in 1967-68 and 1973, offered the following.   “This was just a bit before my time on the Ride and Equitation Staff….. BUT …… here’s a list of Musical Ride members going back to 1947.  Look for “1958” or “1957/58” or “1958/59” entries.

 I doubt that regular troop members would have been used due to their limited horse experience gained during equitation classes in basic training.  These two would most likely have been active Ride members.

 They could have been “spare” Ride members that didn’t travel with the Ride “on tour” during that particular tour (September).  The two horses, especially the one in front seem a bit small for the Ride and therefore may have been regular troop equitation horses for the recruits.”

From Russ Juby’s list of members who served on the Musical Ride from 1948 below is the entry for Cliff Morin:

We may never know positively if the one Rider is Cliff Morin.

Fred Stark thinks the picture was taken in 1958, if it is in fact Cliff Morin, and he was a constable when the picture was taken, it may have been taken in 1949 or the early 1950s.   But let us take a quantum leap and believe it to be so. Let’s give a tip of the old Stetson to Cliff Morin who dedicated 35 years of service to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. For many years he served as a proud member of the R.C.M.P. Musical Ride, upon which the last 6 years he held the position of Officer in Charge. He was transferred to “Depot” Division, as a Staffing Officer, in 1973 after having completed the Force’s Centennial Tour of the Musical Ride.

He was promoted to Superintendent while serving as Officer in Charge, Regina Subdivision, and retired in 1983.

Photograph of Inspector Morin with the Musical Ride In England in 1969. (Source of photo – Ric Hall’s Photo Collection).

1972 – Photograph of Inspector Morin with Superindent G. Norman Jones, Security Officer For Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to Canada in 1972. (Source of photo – Ric Hall’s Photo Collection).

Inspector Morin, followed by Staff Sergeant Harry Armstrong escorting the landau carrying Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip (Source of photo – Ric Hall’s Photo Collection).

Photograph of Inspector Morin swearing in a new member of the Force (Source of photo – Ric Hall’s Photo Collection).

If you have any old photographs that we could include in a forthcoming webpage, please email Ric Hall at rshall69@shaw.ca.  He will scan the original photograph and return the original to you.