Princess Anne Recognizes Communications and Electronics Branch

In October, chapter members gathered to watch as Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, colonel-in-chief of the Communications and Electronics (C&E) Branch, visited the C&E Branch Home Station in Kingston, Ontario, to bestow Her Royal Banner to the C&E Branch on the 110th Anniversary of military communications in Canada. The Communications and Electronics Branch traces its roots back to October 24, 1903, when Maj. Bruce Carruthers' thesis advocating the formation of a specialized corps with a standardized visual signaling system was adopted and as a result the first signal corps in the British Empire, the Canadian Signalling Corps, was founded. In 1968 during the unification of the Canadian Armed Forces, existing communications and electronics organizations within the environments such as the Canadian Army's Royal Canadian Corps of Signals, the Royal Canadian Air Forces Telecommunications Branch and the Royal Canadian Navy's Communicators Supplementary were merged to become the current Communications and Electronics Branch. Members of the Communications and Electronics Branch have provided command, control and information system support to commanders at every level since 1903 and at times paid the ultimate price while in action. Members of the branch have supported domestic operations such as the ice storm in 1998, the Winnipeg floods, the Olympic Games in Vancouver in 2010 and the G8/G20 summits to name but a few. Communications and Electronics personnel have also played an important role in both World Wars, the Korean War, and numerous United Nations Peacekeeping and NATO missions including recent operations in Afghanistan, and international disasters in Haiti, Pakistan and now the Philippines. In fact, wherever operations are conducted, you can be certain that communicators are there to provide critical command and control services for various elements of the Canadian Forces. Also, commencing with the Special Wireless organizations that have evolved to the current Canadian Forces Information Operations Group, branch members in the signals intelligence and electronic warfare role have provided invaluable information and support. This has helped commanders shape their plans and protect their personnel against radio controlled improvised explosive devices, which has saved countless lives. The Princess Royal's Banner to the C&E Branch is a special mark of Royal Favour awarded to the members of the C&E Branch, both past and present, on the occasion of the 110 years of outstanding service in the provision of military communications to the Canadian Armed Forces, Canada and its allies.

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