The Governor General's Horse Guards: Second to None

J.L. Granatstein, Distinguished Research Professor of History Emeritus,
York University, served as Director of the Canadian War Museum from 1998
to 2000. He is the author of Who Killed Canadian History? and coauthor
of The Canadian 100: The 100 Most Influ

Regiments are families writ large. They have the tensions and feuds that
we all live with, but they also have an undeniably special relationship
that binds them together in good times and bad. Regiments live in peace
and their members fight and die in war, and there can be no doubt that
the bonds of trust and affection formed by comradeship help soldiers
endure the horror of battle.

The Governor General’s Horse Guards are Canada’s senior militia
regiment, with a lineage dating back almost 200 years. Once very proper
socially, the GGHG drew together the sons of the Upper Canadian elite:
the Denisons, the Merritts, and the Eatons. But the militia, like
Canada, has changed, and more recent commanding officers include the
names Dorfman, Palanik, and Spitieri. The regiment, nonetheless,
continues, preserving its traditions and commemorating its great men,
and this fine history will mark its place. With a wealth of
illustrations, war art, good maps and photographs, and a good clear text
that sets the GGHG’s role firmly into the Canadian military context of
the skirmishes of the 19th century and the wars and cold wars of the
20th, this history ranks with the best. “Second to None” is the GGHG
motto, and its history fulfils that boast.