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L'Association des anciens
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Reg. #o.165, S/Cst John T. Cherry
Dedication Ceremony & Luncheon Program
16th November 2011 Kingston, ON
Sub/Cst. John T. Cherry NWMP - is the grandfather of brothers Don and Dick Cherry who were both present for this special occasion to honour their grandfather. Altogether there were 150 attendees including the C.O. "O" Division, A/Commr. Stephen White and serving members from Kingston Detachment. There were 34 RCMP Veterans there including Kingston Region Division, Toronto Division, Ottawa Division, Governor, Rick Morris from Toronto and two from National Executive and their spouses from Ottawa.
At 11:00 am there was a "march on" to the graveside of Sub/Cst. John T. Cherry NWMP. This included a call to attention, and an honour guard of Veterans and Piper along with members of the Musical Ride. Opening remarks by serving RCMP Superintendent Jennifer Strachan from Kingston.....and then a "Last Post" performed by bugler, Gillian MacDonald followed by a minute of silence and then a lament by an RCMP Piper, Jack Yourt. Then a dedication of the footstone by RCMP Chaplain, Gerry McMillan and laying of a Wreath and "Unveiling" by two RCMP members and two Kingston Division RCMP Veterans - Escorting Don and Dick Cherry in the laying of the Wreath. The closing remarks were given by Chaplain McMillan and then "Reveille" by the bugler and the Honour Guard members and Veterans paraded off to the tune of the Piper.
Luncheon at CFB Kingston - Vimy Officers' Mess.
At the Vimy Officers' Mess there was opening remarks from RCMP Superintendent Jennifer Strachan from Kingston and then grace by our Chaplain. Lunch was served and then the Head Table Guests were introduced. Presentations of March West Framed Prints, as well as RCMP souvenir embroidered Shabracks were made to Don and Dick Cherry by the C.O. "O" Division.
The RCMP Veterans’ Association National Vice President, Cal Small presented Don Cherry with a certificate nominating Don as an National Honorary Member of our RCMP Veterans’ Association. I could see Don was indeed moved by this honour. Executive Director, Bill Gidley presented Don Cherry with the 125th. RCMP Veterans’ Association Anniversary Coin. It was pointed out to Don that Colonel J.F. McLeod is on one side of the coin on horseback as Don had mentioned several times that day that he felt from reading about the March West that McLeod was indeed the true leader of the March West and Fort McLeod was named in his honour.
Then there were remarks of appreciation by Don and Dick Cherry and the ceremony ended. This was truly a remarkable event, and, members of the Kingston RCMP Detachment with the assistance of members of the Kingston Division RCMP Veterans’ Division, did a great job putting this unique dedication ceremony together and are to be congratulated on planning such a memorable day. Special thanks to Joe Healey (Buffalo Joe) Ottawa Division and Jack O’Reilly Toronto Division for identifying the location of Sub/Cst. John T. Cherry NWMP gravesite to Bob Kraus Kingston Region Division. Bob has been in charge of the Annual Gravesite Inspection program on behalf of Kingston RCMP Detachment since 2002.
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Newspaper article on Cherry Event:
He blazed a trail (from the Whig-Standard, Kingston)
Don Cherry, dressed to the nines, though this time not for show, peered out at the crowd of 150 invited guests gathered at St. Mary's Cemetery on a brisk and breezy autumn Wednesday. He and the rest had come to honour a man over whose final resting place Don stood.
"Wouldn't ol' John T. be surprised at all this attention," Cherry said, respectfully and with a sense of palpable pride.
The man interred beneath him, in a near-century-old grave, is John Thomas Cherry, Don's paternal grandfather, an original member of the North West Mounted Police, predecessor of today's RCMP.
Kingston native John T. Cherry was among the 300 mounted officers who set out in July 1874 on what became known as The March West. That treacherous journey, which reached almost 1,500 km in length from Fort Dufferin, Man., to what is today southern Alberta, brought law and order to the untamed Canadian Prairies.
At Wednesday's dedication ceremony, the RCMP Veterans’ Association honoured Sub/Cst. Cherry with a regimental footstone, which denoted his service with the NWMP.
"It's funny, but I never knew hardly anything about him," noted Cherry, who drove from Mississauga with son Tim and joined Brother, Dick Cherry and other family members and friends at the solemn ceremony.
"My dad hardly ever talked about him."
Younger brother Dick echoed his sibling's comments, saying he knew only that his grandfather had been a long-time sailor and boat captain on the Great Lakes.
"I've certainly learned a lot of history about him," he said following the one-hour ceremony. "It was emotional."
Don said he learned of John T.'s involvement in The March West some three years earlier, from a TV program called Who Do You Think You Are?
That led him to retired RCMP Supt Joe Healy (Buffalo Joe) and retired S/Sgt Jack O'Reilly, point men on a project to find and fete NWMP members who were on the historic March West.
An honour guard, led by a pair of coal-black horses on loan from the force's Musical Ride, opened the 11 a.m. program as piper Jack Yourt played the Regimental March.
Chaplain Gerry McMillan regaled the audience with readings of eyewitness accounts from the perilous March West.
After the brothers Cherry laid a wreath on their grandfather's grave, teacher-bugler Gillian MacDonald played the Last Post and later Reveille. She brought her Grade 5 Loughborough Public School class along for a social studies lesson they won't soon forget.
Don Cherry spoke briefly, captivating listeners with diary excerpts contained in The Great Adventure, the seminal work on The March West. In it, the hardships and sufferings are laid bare: " ... men resembling zombies; ... horses and oxen dying fast; ... rations running short, looks very much like starvation; ... recruits practically dragging their mounts; ... men in summer clothes still damp from the previous day and with winter approaching; ... shoes with shreds where soles once were; ... the men looking more like a parade of terminally ill patients than policemen."
The March West was composed of 300 mounted policemen, 142 draught oxen, 93 head of cattle, 310 horses, 114 Red River carts, 73 wagons, two nine-pounder field guns, two mortars, mowing machines, portable forges and field kitchens. When they departed Fort Dufferin, the column of men, wagons, animals and equipment stretched 4 km.
Ahead lay the unpredictable challenges and fury of nature, not to mention the havoc being wreaked by American whisky traders operating among the Aboriginal people.
In time, death was a near-daily occurrence, be it beast or man. Incredibly, there was nary a doctor or dentist among the 300.
John T. enlisted at Kingston in March 1874. He was 19 years old and, according to NWMP files, he was "slight of build and stood five-foot-seven."
During a brief training period in Toronto, the recruits were told by Commissioner George Arthur French to expect "plenty of hardship; that they might be wet day after day and have to lie in wet clothes; that there might be a day or two without food and often without water." He called on any who had second thoughts to "fall out … there were plenty of good men to take their places."
John T. stayed the course.
His career as a policeman, according to records, got off to a rocky start, thereby providing a window into his personality some 140 years later.
For starters, he did not much cotton to the notion of strict military discipline. This oversight cost him dearly for he had several charges brought against him in the first year of his career. His rap sheet included charges of disobedience, insolence and neglect of duty (he allowed a horse to get away). He was fined $2 for riding in a wagon, $3 for the insolence infraction, $10 for allowing that skittish nag to bolt, and $15 for a second disobedience charge.
Eventually, he straightened out.
"Seeing he was only making 75 cents a day," grandson Don quipped, "he probably had to take a second job to pay off those fines.
"I hate to think I inherited that insolence part, but, hey, as Buffalo Joe Healy told me after they researched my grandfather, 'I guess the acorn didn't fall too far from the tree.'
"Seriously, I like to think I inherited his spirit and never-give-in attitude," added Cherry, who sat beside long-time friend Mel Price during the dedication ceremony.
"He never quit and I've never quit, even though there were plenty of times I could've and certainly wanted to. When I was unemployed, sometimes for six months and with a young family … it was rough, let me tell you. I'd sweep floors, do anything, but I never quit. Just like John T."
Don, too, felt the pinch of penalties that lightened his wallet.
"I played for Eddie Shore, don't forget," he said, referring to penny-pinching American Hockey League team owner, manager and coach.
"You get a misconduct and it was an automatic $25 fine, and you could bet Shore wasn't going to pay it."
Sub/Const. John T. Cherry served a total of three years, 44 days and received his discharge at Fort Macleod, May 11, 1877. He died in 1920.
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PHOTOS
Waiting for the ceremony to begin
"March On" to the graveside of Sub/Cst. John T. Cherry NWMP
Honour guard of RCMP Veterans and Regular Memers
S/Cst Cherry Marker
Dick and Don Cherry laid a NWMP Wreath
Dick Cherry talking with Vets Jack O'Reilly and Joe Healey
Bill Stewart and Don Cherry
Don Speaking
The March West Prints Presented to Dick and Don Cherry
RCMP embroidered Shabracks Presented to Dick and Don Cherry
Cal Small presented Don Cherry with a certificate nominating Don as a
National Honorary Member of our RCMP Veterans' Association
Executive Director Bill Bidley presented Don Cherry
with the 125th RCMP Veterans Association Anniversary Coin