Royal Canadian Armoured Corps

Marchpast: My Boy Willie

Birthday: 13 August 1940

Motto: Through the mud and the blood to the green fields beyond.

Colours: Crimson and Gold

Founder of the RCAC

Major-General F.F. Worthington

1998

Units have precedence based on the date of their organization (regardless of original role) with two exceptions: Regular Force units take precedence over Militia units and Guards units take precedence over units of the line.

1958

1943-1945

Army Tank Regiments were designed to work with infantry and had a smaller establishment; by 1944, all had been converted to armoured regiments or broken up to provide reinforcements.

My Boy Willie

The marchpast of the RCAC is an old English folk song:

Where have you been all the day, my boy Willie?
Where have you been all the day, Willie won't you tell me now?
I have been all the day courting of a lady gay
But she's too young to be taken from her mother

Is she fit to be a wife, my boy Willie?
Is she fit to be a wife, Willie won't you tell me now?
She's as fit to be a wife as a fork fits to a knife
But she's too young to be taken from her mother

Can she cook and can she spin, my boy Willie?
Can she cook and can she spin, Willie won't you tell me now?
She can cook, she can spin, she can do most anything
But she's too young to be taken from her mother

Can she bake a cherry pie, my boy Willie?
Can she bake a cherry pie, Willie won't you tell me now?
She can bake a cherry pie quick's a cat can wink her eye
But she's too young to be taken from her mother

Does she often go to church, my boy Willie?
Does she often go to church, Willie won't you tell me now?
Yes, she often goes to church in a bonnet white as birch
But she's too young to be taken from her mother

Can she make a feather bed, my boy Willie?
Can she make a feather bed, Willie won't you tell me now?
She can make a feather bed and put pillows at the head
But she's too young to be taken from her mother

Did she ask you to come in, my boy Willie
Did she ask you to come in, Willie won't you tell me now
Yes, she asked me to come in, she's a dimple in her chin
But she's too young to be taken from her mother

Did she tell how old she is, my boy Willie?
Did she tell how old she is, Willie won't you tell me now?
She's three times six, seven times seven, twenty-eight and eleven
But she's too young to be taken from her mother

[Disbanded Cavalry and Armoured Regiments]