Seaforth Highlanders of Canada at C.P.R. Station for visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, 29 May 1939. A smiling RSM Tom Anderson adjusting the kit of a sergeant. From the Regimental History, pages 23-24: " … Regimental Sergeant-Major Tom Anderson trained the guard for weeks before the event took place. Anderson, who had served overseas during the war and later with the Calgary Regiment, had joined the Seaforths in 1923 and was Acting Regimental Sergeant-Major in 1926. It is said with good reason that the non-commissioned officers form the backbone of any regiment, and in the case of the Seaforths it was Anderson who stiffened the vertebrae. A stern, demanding man whose voice and bearing could, if necessary, cause considerable apprehension among the junior officers as well as the other ranks, he was one of a number of senior warrant and non-commissioned officers whose devotion to the regiment was responsible for maintaining its reputation for smartness and efficiency during the 1930's. Under his gimlet eye the newest recruit learned to present himself for parade dressed exactly as the regulations demanded, and woe betide the private in uniform even after parades who might be caught slouching about on the streets en route home. For special parades such as a guard of honour, much depended on the R.S.M., not only as a drill instructor but also for the way he handled his job. The orders and instructions he might yell out on the drill floor were directed at volunteers, and the many extra hours of work the men put in were performed without pay." The 1939 royal tour of Canada was a cross-Canada royal tour by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, lasting from May 17 to June 15, 1939, including a visit to the United States on June 7–10. It was the first visit of a reigning monarch to Canada, and also the first time a British monarch had set foot in the United States. The royal couple visited every Canadian province as well as the Dominion of Newfoundland. The tour was an enormous event, attracting huge crowds at each new city. The King and Queen stopped in Vancouver, Victoria, and a number of other smaller communities in British Columbia. Mackenzie King was enthused, stating in his diary on May 29, 1939: "The day in Vancouver was one of the finest on the entire tour," and, the following day: "Without question, Victoria has left the most pleasing of all impressions. It was a crowning gem..."