Image of the University Company of the 28th Battalion. Members, back row (l to r): Arthur G. Gruchy, C. Day, H. Barr, C.A. Scott, Louis Brehaut. Second row: Harry Berry, W. Garrod, Herbert Olding, John Bolton Allen, William Burd and Corporal William Exton Lloyd. Front row: Sergeant Arthur Stephen Kenyon Lloyd, Sergeant J. Eadon Reaney, Lieutenant B. Smith, Sergeant H. Spackman and Sergeant Reginald J. Bateman.

Bio/Historical Note: The 28th Battalion (Northwest), CEF, was an infantry battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force during World War I. The 28th Battalion originally recruited in Saskatoon, Regina, Moose Jaw and Prince Albert, Saskatchewan and Fort William and Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay), Ontario and was mobilized at Winnipeg, Manitoba. The battalion was authorized on 7 November 1914 and embarked for Britain on 29 May 1915. It disembarked in France on 18 September 1915, where it fought as part of the 6th Infantry Brigade, 2nd Canadian Division, in France and Flanders until the end of the war. The battalion was disbanded on 30 August 1920. The battalion had five officers commanding: Lieutenant-Colonel J.F.L. Embury, CMG, 29 May 1915 – 17 September 1916; Lieutenant-Colonel A. Ross, DSO, 17 September 1916 – 1 October 1918; Major G.F.D. Bond, MC, 2 October 1918 – 6 November 1918; Major A.F. Simpson, DSO, 6 November 1918 – 16 December 1918; Lieutenant-Colonel D.E. MacIntyre, DSO, MC, 16 December 1918-Demobilization.The 28th Battalion was awarded the following battle honours: Mount Sorrel, Somme, 1916, 1918; Flers-Courcelette, Thiepval, Ancre Heights, Arras, 1916, 1918, Vimy, 1917, Scarpe, 1917, 1918, Hill 70; Ypres 1917; Passchendaele; Amiens; Hindenburg Line; Drocourt-Quéant; Canal du Nord; Cambrai, 1918; Pursuit to Mons, France and Flanders, 1915-1918.

Progress shot of construction of the most westerly gate of the Memorial Gates. Thorvaldson (Chemistry) Building in background.

Bio/Historical Note: The Memorial Gates are a military memorial that is part of the University campus. Sixty-seven University students and faculty lost their lives while on service during World War I. The impact of the war on the University was immense: 330 students and faculty served during the War, a number equivalent to nearly all of the students who had registered the year prior to the beginning of the conflict. The desire to honor the staff and students who had fallen during the Great War was strong within the University community. As early as August 1918, 3 months prior to the formal Armistice, University President Walter C. Murray began making enquiries into the cost of a suitable memorial. What was settled upon were gates made of solid bronze, imported from England; the remainder, made of local greystone. Architect David R. Brown estimated the cost of what would come to be known as the Memorial Gates to be $30,000, with an additional $10,000 required for the memorial. The cement work was done by Richard J. Arrand in 1927-1928. A concerted fundraising effort among students and alumni helped cover the costs. The Memorial Gates were unveiled by President Murray and dedicated by the Bishop of Saskatchewan on 3 May 1928. A stone tablet, positioned between the bronze gates, bears the inscription: "These are they who went forth from this University to the Great War and gave their lives that we might live in freedom." For many years after, the site was used for the university’s Remembrance Day services at which wreaths are still laid every November 11th. These Gates were originally the entrance gates to campus and flanked University Drive. In the 1980s, due to increased traffic to the southwest portion of the campus, primarily Royal University Hospital, a new road entrance was built to the west. The gates remain, with the remnant of University Drive passing through them renamed Memorial Crescent. The gates are now primarily used by pedestrians, though the roadway is open to vehicles.