Editor’s Note: Bruce attended RRMC and then transferred to CMR for his final two years. He sadly died in a tragic motorcycle accident a couple of years after graduating so John Slater, a fellow recruit mate of his at RRMC has provided the following, in memory of his friend:

I am in a good position to shed some light on Bruce Simpson. I remain in touch with his family to this day and his parents were an extra set of grandparents to my children.  In fact my son’s middle name is Bruce as a tribute to my friend.  Bruce was in fact killed when his motorcycle went off the road between Banff and Jasper  in 1982 or thereabouts.  At the time, he was posted to 1 PPCLI in Calgary.  Bruce’s memorial is in the family cottage compound on Sydenham Lake outside Kingston. 

Bruce arrived at RRMC in 75 and was with Hudson Flt in 3 Sqn.  As a former reservist he had “prior service” but was recognized from the outset as a joker.  Bruce went on to CMR for his last two years.  As an aside, in our fourth year he escorted a bunch of CMR juniors to RMC for the weekend.  As they were leaving he had them grab me out of the dining room and I was dragged back to CMR.  After a nice evening and a quick tour the next morning they dropped me off at the nearest Metro station, gave me $20 and told me to bugger off.

During our grad week my fiancé Kelda actually stayed with Bruce’s parents in Kingston.  Bruce and I joined the PPCLI together, he went to Calgary and 1 VP, I went to Victoria and 3 VP.

A year or so after Bruce passed I was posted to RRMC as 2 Sqn Comd.  There was a small chapel off the Quarterdeck which had several memorial plaques to cadets  who had met their maker.  I went to the Protestant Padre and indicated I wanted to put up a plaque for Bruce.  He replied “that’s nice, but why don’t you do something useful” or words to that effect.  The Protestants would drag the huge altar from the chapel onto the Quarterdeck every Sunday, which was a pain in the butt.  The Padre said wouldn’t it be nice if we had a small portable altar.  I contacted a few buds and the family and quickly crowd sourced enough money to commission a custom altar.  It was crafted out of oak by a PPCLI  master carpenter working at the RRMC Boatshed, complete with a hand carved Chaplin’s crest.  When it was presented to the College the Chaplin General attended and consecrated it.  When the College was closed in the 90s the plan was to ship it to RMC.  This made no sense since Bruce was never there so I convinced the College to send it to the PPCLI Museum in Calgary.  The Regimental Book of Remembrance rests on it to this day as can be seen in the attached picture.  The small brass plaque bears Bruce’s name.

Bruce at RRMC with his fellow Hudson Flight rook mates

After his first two years at Roads, Bruce transferred to CMR for his final two years