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Distinguished Service Order, Mentioned in Despatches
Officer in “D” Company per 18th Battalion Association Memory article about Lieut. John Clarke.
Bio
COLONEL JOHN A. McINTOSH DSO, ED
1885-1970Colonel J.A. McIntosh was one of Galt’s outstanding soldiers. In civilian life he was the postmaster for thirty-two years.
A lieutenant in the 29th Regiment, in 1914 he joined the 18th Battalion C.E.F., becoming second- in-command in 1916. He was wounded in that year and again in 1918. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, the Efficiency Decoration, and was twice mentioned in despatches.
Following the war, McIntosh helped reorganize the Highland Light Infantry of Canada, becoming commanding officer in 1937. In 1940 he was the first officer of the Highland Light Infantry of Canada to enlist in World War II. Taking command of 1,100 men, he blended them into a highly competent and proud unit that proved in battle to be one of Canada’s finest battalions. In Britain, he was promoted to the rank of Colonel, and returned home in 1944.
He was an alderman for six years, served Trinity Anglican Church as a Board Member and Warden, and was an active Mason for fifty years.
Military Record Summary
Wounded: 28-9-16.
Mentioned in Despatches: 28-12-17 L.G., No 30448.
Wounded: 27-8-18.
Mentioned in Despatches: 31-12-18, L.G., No 31089.
Awarded Distinguished Service Order: 1-1-19, L.G., No 31092.
Noted Soldier Dies
Col. John Alexander McIntosh, DSO, who mobilized the Highland Light Infantry of Canada and took it overseas in the Second World War, will be buried with full military honors in Galt Wednesday.
Col. McIntosh died in Westminster Hospital, London, Ont., late Sunday. He was 84.
About 300 Brantford and district men served under him when he commanded the HLI of C in the Second World War as a lieutenant-colonel. In 1944 he was promoted to the rank of colonel and left the regiment in England shortly after.
Col. McIntosh, a Galt native who was the city’s postmaster for 30 years until retiring in 1951, had a lengthy military career which spanned both world wars.
He was a lieutenant in the old 29th Galt Regiment in 1912 and then, with the same rank, joined the 18th Battalion in November, 1914. He was promoted to captain in 1916 and rose to the rank of major later the same year.
He was second-in-command of the 18th Battalion for the last two years of the First World War.
In 1916 he suffered minor shrapnel wounds. Two years later, during the Arras-Cambrai campaign, he was more seriously wounded by shrapnel. He was awarded the DSO for gallantry and was twice mentioned in dispatches during the world war.
Col. McIntosh was active in the non-permanent militia between the two world wars and took part in the reorganization of the HLI of C of which he was second-in-command in 1937.
In 1940, as commander of the regiment, he mobilized it into a force of 1,100 men in less than three weeks and later took it overseas.
The presidents of HLI of C association branches in Brantford, South Waterloo, Kitchener, Guelph and London, and the president of the association’s central executive, a Hespeler man, will be the pallbearers for the funeral.
It will be conducted at 3 p.m. Wednesday at Trinity Anglican Church, Galt. Interment will be in that city’s Mount View Cemetery.
The Expositor 8 September 1970. Page 8.
Took HLI Overseas, Col. McIntosh Dies
By Record Staff Writer
GALT — Col. J. A. McIntosh of 26 Wentworth Ave., who led the first battalion of the Highland Light Infantry of Canada overseas at the outbreak of the Second World War, died Monday at Westminster Hospital, London, Ont. He was 85.
Born Dec. 10, 1885 in Galt, he was a life-long resident of the community. He retired as Galt postmaster in 1951 after 30 years of service and was a member of Alma Lodge No. 72 AF and AM for more than 50 years.
Col. McIntosh was also a former Galt alderman and a charter member of the Galt Country Club, formerly the Waterloo County Golf and Country Club.
He was a member of Trinity Anglican Church, a former member of the board of managers and a former rector’s warden.
Overseas in the First World War he was second-in-command of the 18th Battalion, holding the rank of major. During the conflict, he was mentioned twice in dispatches, wounded twice and awarded the DSO.
After the war, he was active in the militia, being promoted to lieutenant-colonel in 1937. After taking the Highland Light Infantry overseas at the outbreak of the Second World War, he was promoted to colonel of the regiment.
Surviving are his wife, the former Nellie Irwin; one son, Donald of Thornbury; one daughter, Nancy McIntosh of Toronto and two grandchildren. He was predeceased by one brother and one sister.
Friends will be received at the Coutts and Son Funeral Home from 3:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. today. The funeral service will be conducted Wednesday at 3 p.m. at Trinity Anglican Church. Burial will be in Mount View cemetery.
Waterloo Region Record. 8 September 1970. Page 24.
History of the 18th Battalion CEF, "The Fighting Eighteenth" 