WW2 Canadian Armoured Corps School Commanding Officer - Official Original Black & White Gloss Finish Photograph - Camp Borden, Ontario

Anotated on reverse as Lieut Colonel George Y Masson, E.D., Commander Schools and Technical Wing, Canadian Armoured Corps Training Group, Camp Borden, Ontario, Canada. Official stamp confirming date as 21 April 1943. Circa 7inches by 5 inches format and more sepia in tone. In very good condition. He appears to be wearing the more commonly known 'black cats' cap badge of the Ontario Tank Regiment.

George Yule Masson was born in Detroit, Michigan and moved to Windsor, Ontario at a very young age. Masson has lived all his life in Windsor except for brief periods during World Wars One and Two and his university life at the University of Pennsylvania. In World War One, Masson joined the 241st Borderers and later, became a flying cadet in the Royal Canadian Air force. After World War One, Masson studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. Upon graduation in 1921 he returned to Windsor to start his professional career, but not before a summer vacation in Europe.

Masson worked for the architectural firm of Nichols, Sheppard and Masson as well as Sheppard, Masson, Brand and Langlois. Through these firms, Colonel Masson designed many of the schools, churches and businesses in the tri-county area.

During the Second World War Masson, his rank being Lieutenant-Colonel, served as the Commanding Officer of the Ontario Tank Regiment (more commonly known as the 'Ontarios', 'black cats' or 'ONT R' (pronounced "ON-tar"), the regiment ranks among the oldest continuously serving Reserve (Militia) regiments in Canada and is one of the senior armoured regiments in the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps). Masson, after the war, retired with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.

During the 1950’s Colonel Masson was an active member of the Windsor Chapter of the Canadian Red Cross, the Windsor town planning council and chairman of the Windsor Housing Authority. Colonel Masson was also a member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and in 1956 was named President of the Ontario Association of Architects.

Colonel Masson’s architectural career spanned a period of six decades. Masson’s most noteworthy designs are the Cenotaph in City Hall Square, the Red Cross building, Windsor Chapter, the Essex Golf and Country Club and seven Ontario Provincial Police Detachments.

Colonel Masson died at the age of 87 on December 21, 1982 after a lengthy illness.

An archive of his papers both military and professional has been catalogued here:

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Code: 64180