Cap Badge - 5th (Western Cavalry) Battalion, CEF The 5th Battalion (Western Cavalry), CEF, known as "Tuxford's Dandys," was an infantry battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the Great War. The Saskatchewan Dragoon web site references the formation of the 5th Infantry Battalion: With the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, Lt. Col. Tuxford approached Col Steele and requested that a mounted contingent, under Tuxford's command, be sent overseas. Unfortunately for Tuxford, another cavalry regiment had already been chosen for this task. However, seizing the initiative, Tuxford made a request to form a dismounted contingent. Tuxford wrote: ". . . I, therefore, got Colonel Steele to wire in to Ottawa and ask for permission for the mounted units from the West to come down to Valcartier as dismounted troops, if they so desired . . . Upon application I was authorised to organize the two battalions." "In the one battalion I placed the 12th, 16th, 27th, 29th, 30th, 31st, 35th (Light Horse) and Corps of Guides. This battalion became the 5th Canadian Infantry Battalion, and later on being asked to select a name for the battalion, I could think of no better than that of Western Cavalry, and as such they remained the 5th Battalion, Western Cavalry." The 5th Battalion was authorized on 10 August 1914 and embarked for Great Britain on 29 September 1915. It entered the theatre of operations in France on 14 February 1915, where it fought as part of the 2nd Infantry Brigade, 1st Canadian Division in France and Flanders until the end of the war. The battalion was disbanded on 15 September 1920. The 5th Battalion recruited in Brandon, Manitoba; Saskatoon, Regina and Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan; Red Deer, Alberta and Merritt and Vernon, British Columbia and was mobilized at Camp Valcartier, Quebec. The 5th Battalion Was awarded the following battle honours: YPRES, 1915, '17 Gravenstafel St. Julien FESTUBERT, 1915 MOUNT SORREL SOMME, 1916 Thiepval Ancre Heights ARRAS, 1917, '18 Vimy, 1917 Arleux HILL 70 Passchendaele AMIENS Scarpe, 1918 Drocourt-Quéant HINDENBURG LINE Canal du Nord PURSUIT TO MONS FRANCE AND FLANDERS, 1915-18 5th Battalion (Western Cavalry), CEF, is perpetuated by the North Saskatchewan Regiment.