The Ortona Toast

Prompted by our friend and comrade LtCol P of OPFOR fame - who is currently serving in Afghanistan alongside an RCR officer, and was thus reminded of the toast - I would like to recognise the 126th birthday of the Royal Canadian Regiment, and specifically the 66th anniversary of that storied regimental tradition, the Ortona Toast:

As in 1943 at the Ortona Crossroads, each serving is made with one ounce of dark rum, one ounce of water and one teaspoon of brown sugar, and is drunk from plain white china mugs. The Ortona Toast symbolizes the regimental spirit of the RCR's predecessors in the face of the enemy and reminds the regiment of those member's sacrifices. The Ortona Toast is drunk only at Regimental Birthday events, since at other times the regiment may be toasted with port or any other available drink.[1]

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"On December 21st, it was realized that it was The Regiment's Sixtieth Birthday, and Lt-Col. Spry […] was invited to visit the Battalion's Command Post and drink the Health to The Regiment: this he did although the Command Post was under shell fire at the time."
― Strome Galloway, commenting on the first Ortona Toast[src]

The Ortona Toast's inception was during the Italian Campaign of the Second World War. The Royal Canadian Regiment's birthday happened to fall during the Battle of Ortona, which was one of the bloodiest engagements in Italy involving Canadian soldiers during the war. However, before Allied forces could advance on Ortona, the strategic crossroads just south of the city had to be taken. Even though the battle to take the heavily fortified crossroads had already lasted two weeks, the ultimate task to complete the mission was assigned to the soldiers of The Royal Canadian Regiment.[1]
The Ortona Crossroads

The Ortona Crossroads was positioned approximately two kilometres to the southwest of Ortona and had been designated code name "Cider" for the operation — once the crossroads had been captured, then entry into Ortona could be made along the Ortona-Orsogna road. On December 18, with the crossroads' battle having already raged for two weeks, the RCR was sent into the fray with orders to capture the crossroads, beginning at 1145 hours with the opening barrage of Operation ORANGE BLOSSOM, an artillery operation whose mission was to cover the advancing troops. Despite the Allied bombardment of the German lines, the Regiment suffered substantial losses from German paratroopers, or fallschirmjäger in German, who were entrenched in well dug-in positions. Due to a miscalculation in the Allied artillery barrages, many German positions were left untouched by the Allied fire and the defending fallschirmjäger were able to rake the advancing Royal Canadians with machine gun and mortar fire. Despite the setbacks experienced that day, the Royal Canadian Regiment's remaining soldiers were able to hold the positions they had taken, though they remained under constant German sniper and mortar fire. The following day, December 19, saw the RCR renew their attack against the fallschirmjäger, this time supported by Allied tanks, and the regiment was able to make substantial advances throughout the day. By the late evening of the 19th, the remaining RCR soldiers had managed to secure the crossroads. The battle for the Ortona Crossroads cost the RCR two officers killed, thirty-two other ranks killed, and four officers and seventy-four other ranks missing or wounded — it was under these conditions on December 21, with the Battle for Ortona well underway, and while the Regiment was still dug in on the crossroads and taking enemy fire, that the first Ortona Toast was celebrated in honour of The Royal Canadian Regiment's birthday and those members lost in combat.[1]

Known participants in the first Ortona Toast at the crossroads were LCol Daniel Charles Spry, Maj Strome Galloway, Capt Richard Dillon, Capt Hollingsworth, Capt Sandy Mitchell, Capt Marty Upper, Lt Walter Roy, Lt Buck Bowman, Padre Rusty Wilkes and RSM Archie McDonnell. Because no other form of cup was available at the time, several plain white china mugs which had been obtained from a nearby, half-demolished farm house were used by those present to perform the toast.[1]

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"To my knowledge, this is the first time since the original Ortona Toast in 1943 that it has been done in combat."
― LCol Lavoie, taking part in the Ortona Toast, Afghanistan 2006[src]

Col Vance and LCol Lavoie join "C" Company in celebrating the Ortona Toast, Afghanistan 2006.

In December 2006 the 1st Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment's battle group had been steadily securing the Panjwaii District of the Kandahar Province of Afghanistan for almost three straight months. Operation MEDUSA, whose aim was to establish Afghan government control over areas of the Kandahar Province, had been the beginning of this three month campaign. Due to the operational requirements which were placed upon the regiment, it was realized in November that the majority of the 1RCR soldiers would be deployed to forward operating bases when the Regimental Birthday of December 21 came around. As such, LCol Lavoie, Commanding Officer of Task Force 3-06, began to requisition the necessary ingredients — mainly rum and brown sugar — so that all RCR soldiers deployed in theatre who could, would be able to celebrate the Regiment's 123rd birthday with the Ortona Toast.[5]

LCol. Lavoie, accompanied by Col Jon Vance, who was a former commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment, set out on December 21, 2006, to tour the forward operating bases in order to share the Ortona Toast with the RCR soldiers stationed at them. Making their way to several of the forward bases, LCol Lavoie and Col Vance's last stop was the forward operating base Ma'Sum Ghar[5] — the location was significant in the fact that Ma'Sum Ghar was the staging point for the September 3rd, 2006 crossing of the river for Operation MEDUSA which saw Charles Company, 1RCR lose four soldiers in the taking of the village Pashmul.[6] There they met with the soldiers of C Company who were then participating in Operation BAAZ TSUKA,[5] the aim of which was to disrupt Taliban operations by either killing hard line insurgent leaders or forcing them to leave the Panjwaii and Zhari districts.[7] Following an explanation of the history of the toast by LCol Lavoie, Col Vance was invited, as the senior Royal Canadian on the ground, to give the Ortona Toast. Back at Kandahar Airfield, at Task Force 3-06's headquarters, LCol Elms led those Royal Canadians who were stationed at the airfield in the Ortona Toast, briefly explaining the history of the toast before raising their mugs to the regiment.[5]

Two years later in 2008, The Royal Canadian Regiment was again ordered to Afghanistan, this time under the banner of the 3rd Battalion and Task Force 3-08. In December of that year, from the 17th – 24th, Major General (Ret'd) Walter M. Holmes, Colonel of the Regiment, travelled from Canada to the Kandahar Province to visit with the soldiers of Task Force 3-08. During this time, MGen Holmes led the various Royal Canadian companies in celebrating the Regiment's 125th Birthday with the Ortona Toast.[3]

If you happen to be in the vicinity of an RCR soldier today, be sure to accost them with a plain white china mug in hand, and the words "Pro Patria!" on your lips.