Gord Reay - Obituary (2000)

Lt.-Gen. (ret) Reay passed away on December 21, 2000, in Zagreb, Croatia after being involved in a car accident in that city. A former commander of the Canadian army, Lt.-Gen. (ret) Reay was in Croatia to help establish a mine action co-ordination mechanism on behalf of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe.

Lt.-Gen. (ret) Reay was born in Royston, Yorkshire, England on May 30, 1943. After moving to Canada with his parents, he completed his elementary and high school in Montreal.

In May 1965, he graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ont. Upon being commissioned he joined the 2nd Battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI), holding various appointments, including platoon commander, company second in command and adjutant in both Edmonton and Germany. This initial tour included command of a platoon of the parachute company of the regiment. Upon his return to Canada in 1969, he served on staff at Mobile Command Headquarters, Saint-Hubert, Que., and attended in 1971 the Canadian Land Forces Command and Staff College, in Kingston.

On graduation, he returned to 2 PPCLI where he held the appointments of operations officer and company commander. During this period, he served an operational tour with the United Nations Force in Cyprus. In 1975, he wasposted at the first British Corps HQ in Bielefeld, Germany, as operations officer and was awarded the Member of the British Empire, (MBE) for his service while in that appointment. Returning to Canada in 1977, he took up the task of senior staff officer operations of 1st Canadian Brigade Group HQ, a position he relinquished in 1979 to take command of the 1st Battalion, PPCLI.

Two years later, he was posted to National Defence Headquarters (NDHQ) as the Director of Military Manpower Distribution. In June of 1983, he took up the appointment of special policy assistant to the Assistant Deputy Minister(Personnel) in NDHQ, a position he held until his promotion to brigadier-general. He was posted in 1985 to the National Defence College, Kingston.

In 1986, he was seconded to the Foreign and Defence Policy Secretariat of the Privy Council Office, where he remained until July 1987. In that month, he moved to Calgary to take command of 1 Canadian Brigade Group. In 1989, he was promoted major-general and appointed Chief Land Doctrine and Operations, in Ottawa. In June 1991, he was appointed Deputy Commander of Land Force Command at Saint-Hubert before assuming its command on 8 January 1993.

He was appointed Commander of the Order of Military Merit in December 1991.

Lt.-Gen. Reay is survived by his wife and son, Brendan.

Source: http://www.rmc65.ca/classlistandbio.htm

Somalia report:
http://www.forces.gc.ca/somalia/vol4/v4c30e.htm