Cap Badge - 20th (Central Ontario - Toronto) Battalion, CEF (Canadian Expeditionary Force) The 20th Battalion (Central Ontario), CEF was composed of volunteers from militia units in Central Ontario. Much of the unit was drawn from the 12th York Regiment (Rangers) with men coming from ten other Militia Regiments. The unit fought in France and Flanders as part of the 4th Infantry Brigade, 2nd Canadian Division. Notable actions include the Somme, Vimy Ridge, Hill 70, Passchendaele, Amiens, the advance along the Scarpe, Canal du Nord, Canal de le Escault and the Advance to Mons in the Last Hundred Days. The battalion was disbanded in 1920. Altogether, 4,310 officers and men served in the 20th Battalion during the war. Of them, 843 were killed in action or died of wounds (19.6%) – often having been wounded earlier. Another 1,855 (43%) were wounded, often repeatedly. 91 died of disease or accidentally. Ottawa stopped counting the deaths to old injuries, mental trauma and exposure to gas as war deaths in 1922 while the nominal roll of the 20th (privately held after the battalion disbanded) attributed these to the war until 1928. Only 22 Rangers were ever taken prisoner – nine of them in one incident when a stretcher party went astray at Passchendaele. There was also one deserter who crossed to the German lines in 1916, his name and fate is not recorded.